Select committee inquiry
Violence Against Women and Girls
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“The Committee has published the Report into Violence Against Women and Girls and concluded that ending violence against women and girls is the litmus test for whether ‘development’ is working in poor countries such as Afghanistan. MPs on the Committee endorsed a policy framework put in place by UK government to make action to tackle the scourge of violence against women and girls a key priority for the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) in all areas of its work. Original terms of reference for this inquiry -Please click this link to see the original terms of reference for this inquiry Written evidence -Please click on this link to see all of the written evidence received for this inquiry Report published -Please click on this link to see the Report”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of 2nd Report - Violence Against Women and Girls - Volume I (Volume I: Report, together with formal
minutes, oral and written evidence) ↗
Violence against women and girls is a global problem affecting many millions of women. It takes many forms ranging from rape in conflict, to female genital mutilation, to domestic violence, and has physical, sexual, psychological and economic consequences. As well as being a violation of individual rights, violence against women and girls prevents women and girls from flourishing and contributing to their families and communities. It also holds back progress on international development targets.
The UK Government can take pride in its recently increased efforts to tackle violence against women and girls overseas following its 2010 Call to Action on Violence Against Women and Girls. Through its Strategic Vision on Girls and Women, Theory of Change, and related guidance, the Department for International Development (DFID) has a strong policy framework in place to achieve change for women’s lives.
DFID now needs to focus on implementation. Some impressive programmes are underway. But violence against women and girls is not a strategic priority for most of DFID recipient countries where rates of violence are high. Too few DFID programmes address the underlying social norms that drive violence, yet tackling the attitudes that sustain violence against women and girls is of paramount importance. Work to tackle violence against women and girls also needs to be a key part of the different sectors in which DFID works. DFID should prioritise action against the pervasive, everyday forms of violence that women and girls suffer, including female genital mutilation, child marriage and domestic violence. Addressing violence against women and girls at grassroots level is crucial: DFID should review its funding channels in order to increase funding to women’s organisations.
The Department must strike a balance between getting work to address violence against women and girls underway quickly, and taking the time to learn from the—currently relatively limited—evidence base about ‘what works’ in different contexts. DFID’s new Research and Innovation Fund on violence against women and girls will help boost the evidence base over the next few years. In the meantime, DFID should adopt a flexible, learning-based approach to programming, piloting initiatives and integrating research into programming, so that it can scale up when positive results emerge. Further, it must not have unrealistic expectations about how quickly results can be achieved. This is especially true for DFID’s new £35 million programme on female genital mutilation.
DFID must also make violence against women and girls a central focus of its humanitarian operations, ensuring that the protection of women and girls is a priority from the outset.
Refugee camps should be designed to be a refuge not a place where women are at risk of rape and other forms of violence. DFID must get tough with multilateral aid agencies who fail to prioritise this (as too often they do). We welcome the Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative as a way to challenge the culture of impunity around rape in conflict. We recommend a broadening of its scope so there is an increased focus on violence prevention, as well as a more clearly articulated role for DFID.
What the government said
2nd Report - Violence Against Women and Girls - Volume II (Volume II: additional written evidence)
No government response is linked to this report.
2nd Report - Violence Against Women and Girls - Volume I (Volume I: Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence)
The government responded on 12 September 2013.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The government welcomes the report and says it is "committed to tackling violence against women and girls overseas", agreeing with many recommendations, partially agreeing with others and disagreeing with one.
- On social norms and prevention, it agrees and says that over the next year DFID will update its mapping of programmes against its Theory of Change, with interim evaluation results "expected by the end of 2014".
- It disagrees with the call for a binding cross-departmental document on female genital mutilation, saying the issue is already set out in the Government's 2013 Action Plan.
- It partially agrees on a Ministerial Champion unit and reporting, committing to "a cycle of quarterly written statements to Parliament" from autumn 2013, and says staffing "will be kept under review".
- It partially agrees on reinstating the Gender Equality Action Plan, stating that DFID "does not have any plans to reinstate the GEAP".
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 24 October 2012 to 12 September 2013.
- Report 2 reports
- Government response 12 Sep 2013
What it recommended 15 recommendations · 11 conclusions
1We welcome DFID’s Strategic Vision for Girls and Women, Theory of Change on Violence Against...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We welcome DFID’s Strategic Vision for Girls and Women, Theory of Change on Violence Against Women and Girls and related programming guidance as a helpful framework for DFID’s response to violence against women and girls. We were pleased to see that the number of country programmes with violence against women and girls components has increased. We were particularly pleased to see women’s issues become a strategic priority in Afghanistan, as we recommended in our report last year. However, more needs to be done to prioritise violence against women and girls at country level and to bring DFID’s programmes in line with the Theory of Change, so that the best practice it highlights is properly implemented. DFID states that 20 countries now have a violence against women and girls component, but actual work on the ground seems thin in a number of country programmes, including Somalia, which has a poor record on women’s rights. For countries with high prevalence of violence against women and girls such as DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia, DFID should list tackling violence against women and girls as a strategic priority.
2Furthermore, whilst DFID is gradually increasing the number of violence against women and girls programmes...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Furthermore, whilst DFID is gradually increasing the number of violence against women and girls programmes focusing on social norm change, there remains an imbalance towards programmes focusing on security and justice. Addressing the attitudes and behaviours that sustain violence against women and girls is of paramount importance. We recommend that DFID significantly increase its emphasis on changing the social norms that drive violence against women and girls. In order to do this, the Department should undertake an assessment of both the implementation and impact of the Theory of Change, to see where the gaps lie. This process will also help identify the right strategy for addressing social norms, which will vary from country to country. DFID must also ensure it can monitor these changes. We recommend that it put in place systems to enable accurate tracking of the volume and nature of programming on gender equality and violence against women and girls.
3We were pleased to see that the need for multi-sector approaches to violence against women...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We were pleased to see that the need for multi-sector approaches to violence against women and girls is one of the guiding principles of DFID’s Theory of Change. However, we recommend that DFID do more to ensure that sectoral programmes (other than security and justice programmes) address violence against women and girls. Health, education and humanitarian response are briefly mentioned in the Theory of Change, but more detailed analysis and guidance is required on how programmes in these sectors can best address violence against women and girls and how inter-sectoral responses will be implemented. This expertise exists, as the excellent evidence we received attests, and must be used.
4The water and sanitation sector is omitted entirely from both the Theory of Change and...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The water and sanitation sector is omitted entirely from both the Theory of Change and the accompanying guidance notes. This is a major omission, given data that demonstrates the significant risks of violence women face when walking to collect water or use sanitary facilities. We recommend that DFID review the Theory of Change and issue specific guidance on how programmes across key sectors– including health, education and water and sanitation–can and should address violence against women and girls.
5We are pleased that DFID acknowledges the important role played by women’s organisations at local,...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We are pleased that DFID acknowledges the important role played by women’s organisations at local, national and international levels to bring about changes in social norms, institutions and policies to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. However, many women’s organisations—especially small community-based organisations—often struggle to get adequate funding. We recommend that DFID review its funding channels and seek to increase funding to women’s organisations to work on violence against women and girls at community, national and international levels. This should include both core and programme funding and ensure continuity and stability of funding over time. We recommend DFID explore funding specific women’s funds for this purpose. We also recommend that DFID look at the way that it uses women’s knowledge and expertise in-country to comment on and ‘screen’ DFID’s gender policies. We understand that DFID uses formal gender advisory panels in some countries. We recommend that such formal gender panels are established in more countries. We also recommend that informal local panels are established so that local women can be involved in developing policy priorities, and to ensure that grassroots organisations secure the funding they need.
6We were concerned about the impact of Ethiopia’s Proclamation on Charities and Societies law on...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We were concerned about the impact of Ethiopia’s Proclamation on Charities and Societies law on civil society organisations in the country, and particularly on their ability to work on gender-based violence (GBV). We commend DFID’s decision in 2012 to commission a study to examine the impact of the proclamation on GBV- related services. We also commend the DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lynne Featherstone MP for raising the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam. We hope that the Ethiopian Government will review the human rights implications of the law, and urge it to exempt DFID from the 2009 law on charities and societies, and, indeed to ensure that certain types of work on gender—including violence against women and girls—can also be exempted.
7We welcome DFID’s new Research and Innovation Fund for violence against women and girls announced...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We welcome DFID’s new Research and Innovation Fund for violence against women and girls announced in November 2012. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that the research components will be activated until 2014. Whilst we understand the reasons for not rushing the tendering process, DFID needs to be mindful of getting the research fund up and running quickly. This is also true for programmes to address violence against women and girls more widely. DFID must have the milestones in place to ensure new programmes are introduced with a reasonable timeframe.
8However, there is a balance to be struck.
Recommended (the committee's words)
However, there is a balance to be struck. Given the relatively limited evidence about ‘what works’ to prevent violence against women and girls in different contexts, it is important that the Department does not rush into large-scale violence against women and girls programming with unrealistic expectations about timeframes and results. Research into violence against women and girls, as well as programming, needs to have realistic timeframes, in recognition of the time needed to bring about and measure complex social change. We recommend that DFID take a lead internationally by investing in longer-term, flexible and phased programming involving piloting, integrated research and analysis, and gradual scale-up of programmes and evaluation. Programmes to tackle violence against women and girls should have a minimum 5-year timeframe and realistic results frameworks (including using interim and process indicators) in recognition that follow-up phases are likely to be needed and long-term impacts may only be realised after 10-plus years.
9We welcome DFID’s announcement of £35 million for programming to “end female genital mutilation in...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We welcome DFID’s announcement of £35 million for programming to “end female genital mutilation in one generation”. If this aspiration is to be met, the £35 million funding must see rapid—but careful—investment. DFID’s Business Case says that the NGO Tostan’s approach on village empowerment, pioneered in Senegal, has probably shown the best results on the ground. Yet we have been told that it is too early to be sure that this approach is the most effective way to reduce FGM. We remind DFID of our earlier recommendation to adopt a phased and flexible approach to programming, and to build the evidence base as it works, rather than to rush into large-scale programming to address violence against women and girls based on a single model where the evidence on alternative models of intervention is incomplete.
10We were shocked to discover that there are estimated to be 20,000 girls at risk...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We were shocked to discover that there are estimated to be 20,000 girls at risk of female genital mutilation within the UK. Whilst it is beyond our remit to comment on domestic policy, we believe that—as it stands—the UK’s credibility in calling to end the practice overseas is undermined by the failure to tackle the problem at home. Witnesses recommended that the UK must put aside political correctness and adopt a far more robust, cross-agency approach, where the police proactively track girls at risk of female genital mutilation and step in to prevent parents having the procedure performed on their daughter(s). We commend these recommendations and urge the Government to act upon them. We were appalled to discover that, despite 148 54 Violence Against Women and Girls referrals of female genital mutilation cases in the past four years, police and social services do not place at-risk girls on the Child Protection Register. This must change.
11There is far greater scope for joint working across Government on tackling female genital mutilation...
Recommended (the committee's words)
There is far greater scope for joint working across Government on tackling female genital mutilation overseas and in the UK, including through engagement with diaspora groups in the UK. We recommend publication of an up-to-date, binding document that requires all service providers—Departments of Health and Education, DFID, the FCO, Home Office, Government Equalities Office, the Metropolitan Police Service, Ministry of Justice, and the Crown Prosecution Service—to play their part. We draw these recommendations to the attention of the relevant select committees.
12We were impressed with DFID’s Finote Hiwot programme, which is working to end child marriage...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We were impressed with DFID’s Finote Hiwot programme, which is working to end child marriage in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. It is supporting vital community- level work that is addressing social norms and helping girls, boys and their communities understand the implications of early marriage, including the serious consequences for maternal health and girls’ schooling. We ask DFID to consider where it could roll out similar programmes, and to report back on this in its response to this report. We also urge the UK Government to make a political commitment to ending child marriage internationally, as it has done with female genital mutilation. The two practices are linked, and—as with female genital mutilation—political leadership will be crucial to ending the practice.
13We were pleased to see that DFID has recently commissioned a review of evidence on...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We were pleased to see that DFID has recently commissioned a review of evidence on partner violence, given that domestic violence is the most widespread form of violence against women and girls suffered by women and girls worldwide. It is important that DFID’s programmes seek to tackle domestic violence, and that they are targeted at household level, given that social norms and behaviours are largely formed here. The review also indicates that DFID should seek better to integrate violence with its work with children and social protection programmes. In its response to this report, DFID should report back on its plans for programming in this area in follow-up to the review.
14We welcome the Secretary of State for International Development’s Call to Action to address violence...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We welcome the Secretary of State for International Development’s Call to Action to address violence against women and girls in humanitarian situations, and her decision to hold a summit in Autumn 2013. There is emerging evidence that tolerance of violence against women and girls makes countries more prone to conflict. This makes tackling the acceptance of violence against women and girls all the more important. We repeat our earlier recommendation that DFID significantly increase its focus on social norms. Further, whilst the focus on sexual violence in conflict is important, it must also be recognised that women and girls also suffer Violence Against Women and Girls 55 from many other forms of violence in conflict and humanitarian settings—including higher rates of intimate partner violence, child abuse, and child marriage. DFID should ensure that any new programming resulting from its Call to Action is sufficiently broad to include the full range of abuses that women and girls experience in crisis settings and that it addresses prevention in addition to response, by tackling the root causes of violence—including underlying gender inequalities and discriminatory social norms.
15Levels of violence against women and girls, especially sexual violence, are particularly high during humanitarian...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Levels of violence against women and girls, especially sexual violence, are particularly high during humanitarian emergencies. Yet the evidence shows that—despite international guidelines—vital preventative and emergency responses to violence against women and girls are not accorded enough priority by donors at the onset of humanitarian crises. DFID must make tackling violence against women and girls a central part of its humanitarian programming, highlighting the importance of focusing on violence against women and girls in the immediate onset of an emergency, and advocating the delivery of lifesaving services (such as sexual and reproductive healthcare) to survivors of violence as well as preventative measures such as safely situated water and sanitation facilities, firewood patrols, distributing stoves and the creation of safe spaces.
16DFID must also get tough with multilateral aid agencies which, we hear, continue to ignore...
Recommended (the committee's words)
DFID must also get tough with multilateral aid agencies which, we hear, continue to ignore basic measures for safeguarding women in refugee camps and other displacement sites. DFID must send a clear message to the major relief agencies that its funding of them is contingent on violence against women and girls being pushed to the top of the list of emergency measures in crisis response. DFID should also include gender and violence against women and girls as key strategic priorities for the reform processes of UN humanitarian and relief agencies. We recommend that accountability to gender-based violence guidelines should be key criteria for DFID when channelling and disbursing humanitarian funds, including via pooled funds. We recommend that DFID include violence against women and girls in its next multilateral aid review.
17We welcome the Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.
Recommended (the committee's words)
We welcome the Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. As the Initiative progresses from its initial inception phase, we recommend a broadening in scope to include: first, more emphasis on prevention (rather than response); secondly, a greater focus on survivor support services in addition to work on formal investigations and prosecutions; and finally, ensuring a link to wider work on different forms of violence against women and girls, addressing root causes of violence. We recommend that, in the Government’s Response to this report, it sets out how it might broaden the Initiative in the future to include these points.
18Access to justice is vital for women and girls suffering violence, including access to legal...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Access to justice is vital for women and girls suffering violence, including access to legal advice. We credit DFID for seeking to provide access to justice for 10 million women by 2015. The PSVI has concentrated on prosecutions, but in addition it is important to talk about ways of facilitating women’s access to justice. We urge the UK Government to ensure that the PSVI supports women to access justice as well as 56 Violence Against Women and Girls increasing prosecutions. We look forward to the forthcoming publication of DFID's Theory of Change on using security and justice programming to tackle violence against women and girls, and recommend this document spells out in detail DFID's approach to this crucial workstream.
19It is imperative that the UK Government stands by its commitment to sustain momentum on...
Recommended (the committee's words)
It is imperative that the UK Government stands by its commitment to sustain momentum on the PSVI beyond the 2013 G8 Presidency. However, to be taken forward effectively, the Initiative must include a clearer articulation of DFID’s role so that the Department’s expertise is fully utilised. The FCO, whilst providing admirable leadership, does not have the mandate or knowledge to undertake programming to address violence against women and girls and delivery of women’s services on the ground—it is DFID that possesses this expertise. We anticipate that the DFID Secretary of State’s recent ‘Call to Action’ and her planned autumn summit on violence against women and girls in humanitarian settings will provide opportunities for embedding the PSVI within DFID’s work. We recommend that, in its response, the Government spell out specific details of DFID’s future involvement in the PSVI, including details of budgets and staffing.
20We recommend that the UK Government continue to lobby at the UN for peacekeepers to...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend that the UK Government continue to lobby at the UN for peacekeepers to be properly trained in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, and for any peacekeepers that commit abuses to be held to account. Further, we believe that the UK should also strengthen the training on violence against women and girls it provides its own troops, and to the peacekeeping forces that the MOD helps train. In the reply to this report, the Government should state what steps the Secretary of State for Defence is taking to deliver effective training in respect of violence against women and girls.
21Certain donor agencies continue to restrict the use of their funds for the purposes of...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Certain donor agencies continue to restrict the use of their funds for the purposes of abortions for women raped during conflict. DFID has stated that the lifesaving care promised under the Geneva Conventions may sometimes include the provision of abortions to women raped in conflict if deemed medically necessary. However, this position has yet to be incorporated into the relevant DFID policies. We recommend that DFID issue a clear policy statement spelling out the extent and limits of its support for abortion for women raped in war. We also recommend that DFID engage in serious dialogue with donors that restrict the use of their funds for abortion—notably the US Government—to ensure that women raped in humanitarian conflict settings can access the services they need, including abortion. DFID should work with its counterparts in the US, and with agencies affected by the US ban, such as the ICRC, to ensure that women raped in humanitarian conflict settings can access the services they need, including abortion.
22We support DFID’s continued core funding of UN Women, which is an important way of...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We support DFID’s continued core funding of UN Women, which is an important way of ensuring predictability and continuity at the country level, especially with regard to the regular funding it enables UN Women to give to women’s organisations. We agree with UN Women’s suggestion that DFID should establish a longer-term, closer collaboration on violence against women and girls with the agency, including the development of a joint violence against women and girls strategy. This would help DFID to capitalise on the technical expertise and country- level experience on violence against women and girls within UN Women, at a time when its own ability to employ extra staff is limited.
23We are pleased that DFID, together with the Government Equalities Office and the FCO, played...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We are pleased that DFID, together with the Government Equalities Office and the FCO, played an active role in securing what was generally considered a positive outcome to the UN Commission on the Status of Women earlier this year (CSW 57). We urge the UK Government to now focus on following up the event. Key priorities should be to support implementation of conclusions, particular at country level, and to engage in early preparatory work for CSW 58 in 2014, which will focus on the post-2015 framework to replace the MDGs. Whilst we have not had time to carry out a detailed analysis of the report of the High Level Panel (HLP) on Post-2015, we were very pleased to note that its “illustrative goal framework” includes a stand-alone gender goal. We very much welcome the inclusion of the targets to end violence against women and prevent child marriage. We were also pleased to see that the HLP heeded our calls for gender equality to be integrated across all of the goals. We urge the UK Prime Minister and Secretary of State for International Development to push for these “illustrative goals and targets” to be retained in the final post-2015 framework at all costs.
24We welcome the UK Government’s establishment of the role of Ministerial Champion for Tackling Violence...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We welcome the UK Government’s establishment of the role of Ministerial Champion for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Overseas, the first of its kind internationally. The role offers the chance to improve policy coherence across departments—especially DFID, the FCO and the MOD—and to reinforce the UK’s international strategy on violence against women and girls. However, in order to do this the role must be properly resourced. We recommend the creation of a small unit, adequately staffed, and the introduction of an annual Parliamentary reporting cycle, that together will formalise the role and enhance its strength.
25We believe that, in order to sustain its impressive international leadership on violence against women...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We believe that, in order to sustain its impressive international leadership on violence against women and girls, DFID must address its staffing and knowledge base. DFID should keep the both the size, and the location of its violence against women and girls team, under review to ensure that its resources are appropriately matched to the increasing focus on violence against women and girls within the Department. DFID should consider re-activating its Gender Equality Action Plan— dropped in 2010—as a useful tool for ensuring that staff across the organisation in 58 Violence Against Women and Girls Headquarters and country offices have strong knowledge and capacities to work on gender and issues connected with violence against women and girls.
26We welcome DFID’s efforts to expand its technical capacity on violence against women and girls...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We welcome DFID’s efforts to expand its technical capacity on violence against women and girls via the new helpdesk, but this is no substitute for strengthening the in-house capacity of staff. It is especially important to increase the capacity of country programme staff, who are responsible for the actual implementation of programmes to address violence against women and girls. Training and guidance must go beyond box-ticking to be a real priority for all DFID staff. We agree with witnesses that DFID should consider a minimum training on violence against women and girls before staff can be deployed overseas.