Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the causes of political and social instability in North Africa and the Middle East.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is central to the commitments of the National Security Council, Strategic Defence and Security Review, and the UK Aid Strategy. DFID works towards stability and security in the region through a joined up approach across HMG, prioritising efforts on what we can affect, exerting international influence and building resilience to prevent further failure. Our mission is to assist progress towards stability, preventing extremism and managing migration. The majority of our resources are targeted at a protracted humanitarian response and support stability through a focus on economic reform, education, jobs and local good governance. Since February 2012 and up to the end of financial year 2015/2016 we have spent nearly £1 billion. We will spend £510m in the region this year through the UK Syria crisis response, which will support humanitarian and non-humanitarian projects in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, benefiting people affected by the conflict.
An important aspect of the cross HMG response to build stability in the region is the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) under the direction of the National Security Council. CSSF brings together HMG effort on conflict, stability, security and peacekeeping and responds to emerging crises in states where the United Kingdom has key interests. In 2016/17 the CSSF will commit £189m in MENA. The CSSF provides funding to a range of programmes that target the underlying drivers of conflict and instability, from security and justice to peacebuilding (political settlements and transition, community-level dispute resolution and conflict management), human rights protection and governance reform.
