Afghanistan: Support for Women and Girls
Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Contributions
Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)Liberal Democrat
7. What support his Department is providing to Afghan women and girls.
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)Labour (Co-op)
We are all deeply alarmed by the systematic discrimination and exclusion of women and girls from public life, education, employment and decision making in Afghanistan. That is why we are providing £105 million a year to support the Afghan people, and our aid reached 5 million Afghans last year, including 3 million women and girls. We continue to press the Taliban directly on women’s rights, and we work through our international partnerships to raise these important issues.
During Evidence Week, I met Dr Sara Polo to discuss violence against women and girls in conflict areas, including Afghanistan. Although many aspects of the national action plan on women, peace and security are encouraging, academics such as Dr Polo have pointed out that there are areas for improvement, such as including victims of non-sexual violence in NEP initiatives. What discussions has the Minister had with academics about the NEP, and how can academics engage further?
We engage with a wide range of experts on these issues, and I would certainly welcome a chance to discuss these matters with the academics the hon. Lady references, but I can absolutely assure her that the Department engages with a huge range of civil society and expert organisations. That is very important in informing our work on these issues.
Mr SpeakerSpeaker
I call the Chair of the International Development Committee.
Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)Labour
It is not just Afghanistan where we see a rollback in the protection of women and girls. Last week, I was in Sierra Leone, working with parliamentarians there to try to prevent sexual-based violence. As part of that trip, we went to the maternal health unit in Freetown, where the UK has been supporting the health industry for the last 20 years. We cut all of our funding to that last year, which means there is now no money for procurement or for any healthcare in that country. What are we going to do for countries where we have cut all our funding to help them transition in a meaningful way, rather than presenting them, basically, with a death sentence?
The Chair of the Select Committee is a long-standing champion on these issues, even before her time chairing the Committee, and she and I have discussed these issues on many occasions. We always welcome a conversation with her about these matters, and I am sure that the Minister for International Development, who has responsibility for Africa, and indeed the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bridgend (Chris Elmore), who works on preventing sexual violence, would be happy to sit down and discuss these issues with her.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5425612.