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In asking my hon. Friend to say what he can about these matters, I want to conclude with three quick points. There is a great demand for all public resources throughout the world at present. A lot of stuff is going on, and a lot is taking place in the Congo involving many different NGOs. There seems to be scope to harmonise some of the efforts, as there is some duplication of effort by Governments, NGOs and so forth, and NGOs are open to that argument. It is also worth mentioning Lord Mances important report on justice and the rule of law in the Congo. It is very well written, and it is a profoundly important document. Most important of all is the campaign by V-Day UK to help the City of
Joy project. It is going to raise $1 million or £1 millionI am not sure which. It will be helped by UNICEF. I have visited the site and I know that the Department for International Development has contributed to it. Can my hon. Friend say that it will keep a close watch on the project in the coming months? There are many other things going on in the world and in the Congo, but it is a profoundly important project where we will actually see results. DFID is a great force for good in the Congo, and I believe that V-Day UK is also a great source of inspiration and a great force for good in the Congo.
The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr. Gareth Thomas): May I, in the usual way, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Mr. Joyce) on securing this debate and on the way in which he has made his case? I join him in praising the huge contribution made by the non-governmental organisations and development professionals who operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congothey are a force for good. I also join him in praising the contribution of Womens Aid and the many other organisations across the UK that do so much to champion efforts to prevent and reduce domestic violence in the UK.
My hon. Friend described the challenges facing the Government and people of the DRC extremely well. He discussed not only the challenges in terms of infrastructure, but the legacy of the conflict and the fragility of the political situation in the eastern DRC. I also join him in praising the work of V-Day UK, and I reassure him that we will certainly keep a close eye on the City of Joy project. I shall bring his specific request in respect of that project to the attention of the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, South (Mr. Lewis), who leads on Africa and, therefore, on the DRC work.
My hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk has been a consistent campaigner for providing more help to the DRC, and as chair of the all-party group on the great lakes region and genocide prevention he helps to keep these issues in the view of not only the Government but the general population in the UK. He rightly alluded to the fact that that is hugely important in helping people to understand that we have not only a fundamental duty to our own citizens, but, given our comparative wealth internationally, a responsibility to the worlds poorest.
My hon. Friend focused in particular on violence in the eastern DRC and on gender-based violence. I shall certainly try to respond to those points, but may I try to put the UKs response to the situation in the DRC in a broader context? That country faces the immense challenges of chronic poverty and conflict, and now, as he rightly said, the global economic crisis. Every single day nearly 100 Congolese mothers die in childbirth because they are unable to afford medical helphe rightly reminded us of that from the experience of one of his earlier visits. In total, Congolese mothers and fathers watch one in five of their children die before their fifth birthday due to lack of health care and clean water.
As my hon. Friend knows only too well, the DRC is also a country of immense potential. It is home to vast mineral wealth, which could make it one of the most prosperous countries in Africa. We are committed to
helping the DRC on the road to a prosperous and peaceful future. The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors to the DRC, providing about £80 million in aid this year, and we plan to increase our supportto £100 million next year and to £130 million the year after. We will certainly use our financial influence and our expertise from other countries to try to bring together more effectively still the work of NGOs and other donors, as he rightly requests.
The UKs commitment to the DRC is having an impact. As my hon. Friend will know, in 2008 almost 1 million more people in the DRC got access to clean water. We are helping to begin the introduction of free health care provision in some 20 health zones in the DRC. Potentially, that will benefit about 2 million people living in those areas, both by removing the need to pay health user fees and by providing further access to health clinics. The risk of malaria for more than 6 million men, women and children in the DRC has been substantially reduced through the purchase and distribution of more than 3 million treated anti-malarial bed nets. We are also empowering nearly 2 million people in 1,400 villages to take control of their own development. We are helping local communities to decide their own development priorities and to implement projects to meet those.
My hon. Friend mentioned the global economic slowdown and there is a real risk that the gains in developmentwhich are significant, although there is much more to docould be reversed. This year has already seen the currency significantly weaken against the dollar, foreign exchange reserves drop to very low levels, and mining companies close across the country resulting in an estimated 300,000 miners losing their jobs.
The IMF and the World Bank have approved emergency funding that will help to ease the economic pressures in the short term, and we will use the G20 summit to stress the importance of maintaining aid flows to countries such as the DRC, so that long-term investment in health and education continues.
My hon. Friend rightly highlighted the terrible problem of sexual violence. We seek to focus our support for tackling that issue on two areas. First, we are helping the victims of sexual violence through medical treatment and psychosocial counselling. DFID is helping to finance a comprehensive health package in the eastern DRC that will enable greater access to health care for all, including victims of sexual violence. The health component of the humanitarian action plan, created by donors to respond to the situation in the DRC, has ensured that more than 14,000 victims of sexual or gender-based violence were treated in 2008. Some 12,000 women received psychosocial counselling to which DFID contributed financial support.
Secondly, we want to prevent sexual violence from happening in the first place. That is why we are supporting integrated brigades to bring together people from different
ethnic groups to reduce the likelihood of human rights abuses occurring. We are funding specialist training for the judicial police and magistrates and improving the polices ability to investigate cases of sexual violence.
My hon. Friend is right about the importance of putting in place the beginnings of effective law and order systems in the eastern DRC. We are also supporting awareness-raising and sensitisation work with local communities. For example, we have supported awareness-raising work led by the Minister for Gender, Family and Children, who recently launched a media campaign against sexual violence, including the provision of a professional helpline for victims. We continue to lobby the Congolese authorities at the highest levels, including President Kabila, to stress the urgent need to tackle sexual violence.
We are also watching closely the threat of renewed conflict, which still bedevils the DRC, given the fragility of the political situation in the east. The joint DRC-Rwandan military operations to tackle the FDLR in February have provided hope that the years of conflict in the east may now be in the past. But the situation is still fragile and unpredictable. The potential remains for further violence following recent reprisals by the FDLR militia group. The humanitarian situation remains serious with more than 850,000 internally displaced people in North Kivu alone.
Ensuring a smooth army integration process will be critical in ensuring a permanent peace in eastern DRC. The accelerated integration of the CNDP into the Congolese army is more or less complete but it is by no means irreversible. MONUC, the United Nations mission in the DRC, will continue to play an important part in supporting the progress that has been made. The commitment of Egypt, Bangladesh and Guatemala to make extra troops available to MONUC is therefore hugely important. We hope to see them deployed in the east as soon as possible.
My hon. Friend has done the House a great service by raising, once again, the issue of further support to the DRC and the particular horror of the sexual and gender-based violence that bedevils the eastern part of the DRC, in particular. My hon. Friend asked the Government to continue to focus on those issues and I assure him that we shall certainly do so. The Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, South, is planning to visit the region later this month and to assess the situation for himself. I will draw the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk to his attention. I hope that my hon. Friend will be reassured that the Government continue to focus on the concerns with which the House is now more familiar as a result of his securing the debate.
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