Recommendation 8

HM Government Rejected

32. The FCDO’s strategic approach to support forced displacement draws on a wide range of interventions, which combine to: reduce the drivers of displacement; protect people once they are displaced; support host communities; find long-term solutions; and create conditions that allow displaced people to return home. 33. Conflict and fragility are major causes of forced displacement which the UK is tackling through a strategic approach combining diplomacy, development and security, and working with our institutional partners. Through work to prepare vulnerable populations for the impacts of climate change, we are addressing another contributing factor to displacement and directly protecting displaced people who are more likely to live in climate vulnerable countries. 34. When people are displaced, the FCDO provides humanitarian assistance in key geographies, with specialised support for the most at-risk groups, particularly women and girls. 35. Alongside prevention and humanitarian response, the FCDO is championing long-term solutions to forced displacement. This includes working with host governments to ensure that displaced people have access to essential services, education and economic opportunities, as well as supporting communities hosting displaced people. Where possible, we support peacebuilding and stabilisation in the countries from which people have been displaced, laying the groundwork for people to return. 36. Responding to these issues is not something the UK can do alone, so we are working closely with our partners to devise solutions and drive the international response. The Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration continue to be important tools for catalysing collective action on migration and displacement. The UN reform process is also important to ensuring ongoing protection for displaced people. We are closely engaged with this process and will ensure that displaced people receive the protection they need. 37. The FCDO will continue to work through the multilateral system to increase development financing in situations of forced displacement, an important enabler of our work to find long-term, sustainable solutions for displaced people. (Recommendation 2, Paragraph 59) The FCDO should commission a holistic review of the drivers of and solutions to displacement, reporting its findings to the Committee within one year of the publication of this report. Government response: Agree 38. In light of the volume of existing analysis on forced displacement, the FCDO will commission a literature review of the current evidence, to include drivers and solutions, which we will share with the Committee. (Recommendation 3, Paragraph 60) The Department should appoint a new Special Envoy for Displacement who can oversee the discrete policy teams that work on mitigating the drivers of displacement, facilitating policy co-ordination between teams and ensuring consistency of outputs. Government response: Disagree 39. The FCDO has no current plans to appoint a Special Envoy for Displacement. The department has a dedicated Forced Displacement Team which works closely with thematic teams and the FCDO’s overseas network to coordinate implementation of the FCDO’s approach to forced displacement. Displaced women and girls (Conclusion 8, Paragraph 77) Funding cuts to gender-specific programming will be devastating for women and girls, starving them of vital support and services. The Government has not learned lessons from the previous Government about the severe impacts of funding cuts to programming for women and girls.