§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to seek to ensure that the British aid programme places emphasis on strategies designed to assist women in generating and creating income as called for in paragraph 115 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women.
§ Mr. RaisonWe support the objectives contained in paragraph 115 of the United Nations forward looking strategies for the advancement of women. Procedures were introduced in the ODA in 1984 to ensure that project work took better account of the role and needs of women.
§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will, as set out in paragraph 122 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women, take steps to strengthen the evaluation of the effect of Britain's aid programme on women.
§ Mr. RaisonAssessment of how aid projects affect women is already an integral part of our evaluation studies. With our partners in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, we are considering how to improve the information in this respect, particularly governing statistics at our disposal.
§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to seek to implement paragraph 177 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women which calls for urgent measures to enhance the role of African women as food producers.
§ Mr. RaisonWe support the recommendations in paragraph 177 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women, and fully appreciate the importance of African women as food producers. We should be happy to consider requests from African Governments for help in enhancing their role in this respect.
§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department is doing to seek to ensure that women are given access to training programmes to widen their skills and widen the range of methods and technologies used for agricultural production, as called for in paragraph 186 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women.
§ Mr. RaisonWe should be happy to consider requests from developing countries, to which paragraph 186 of forward looking strategies for the advancement of women was directed, to help with the activities there specified, including, where appropriate, training in Britain.
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§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to implement paragraph 299 of the conclusions of the United Nations Nairobi conference on forward looking strategies for the advancement of women relating to the establishment of special relief programmes.
§ Mr. RaisonWe fully recognise the problems of refugees and displaced women and children, and have responded generously to special appeals from such international agencies as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In the calendar year 1985 our total refugee assistance is expected to exceed £27 million. In addition we are providing £5 million in the period 1984–89 in response to the second international conference for assistance to refugees in Africa, held in July 1984.
Britain has also ratified the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees and takes every opportunity to encourage other governments to do likewise.