I am proud that the UK is recognised as a global leader in efforts to eliminate VAWG in all its forms and remains unwavering in the defence of women's and girls' right to live free from violence. This is an end to which I am also fully committed. 

Ministers and officials at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regularly raise gender issues, including VAWG, in multilateral fora, such as the UN and Council of Europe, and directly with countries where concerns exist. 

The UK's leadership supports the UN and national governments to eliminate all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) including Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI). This includes the largest single investment to help end Female Genital Mutilation in the world to date. You may also be interested to learn that in September 2020, the FCDO launched the tender for a new £67.5 million programme to scale up effective interventions to prevent VAWG across development and humanitarian contexts, and to continue expanding the evidence base as a global public good. This is the largest investment by any donor government in programming and research to prevent VAWG globally.

The UK is also co-lead of the global Generation Equality Action Coalition on gender-based violence (established in 2020 to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action on Gender Equality), and is using this platform to drive more concerted, coordinated and scaled-up global action across the international system to prevent gender-based violence in all its forms.

I am assured that the UK will continue to champion the rights of women and girls as part of our Presidency of the G7 this year. Indeed, along with educating girls and empowering women, ending VAWG is one of the three key themes under which the UK is seeking to advance gender equality at the G7 this year.