International Development Secretary Priti Patel today called for a new concerted global push to prevent millions of people losing their lives across East Africa to the threat of starvation and disease.

As the first Cabinet Minister to visit Africa since the General Election, Ms Patel saw how UK leadership has saved the lives of many facing the risk of extreme hunger.

But she warned that the crisis had reached a critical point and that a loss of momentum in the international response could rapidly reverse the progress made, cost lives and further destabilise the already fragile region.

She made clear that the UK will continue to set the pace. The quick response from the UK earlier this year to the growing food crisis in East Africa – including pledging £110 million for Somalia, £11.5 million for Ethiopia and matching £10 million of public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) appeal – led the international response. This support has been integral to preventing starvation in Somalia and Ethiopia, but the risk is far from over.

In Somalia – a country plagued by civil war and terrorism where millions have fled their homes – our support is not only helping people survive, it will help give them a choice about their lives and their futures, so they aren’t forced to turn to extremism or make the dangerous journey to Europe. This in turn means a safer UK.

The Ethiopian Government showed strong leadership in the 2016 drought and put forward more than US$700 million to meet the needs of their own people. We are working with the Government to ensure they respond effectively this year, to prioritise, plan effectively and step up their own finance for the response.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said:

Global Britain is leading the way in providing a lifeline for millions of people in Somalia and Ethiopia who are at risk of starving to death as extreme hunger stalks East Africa.

I’ve seen UK aid in action, doing what it does best – saving and changing lives. This is also helping to stabilise the world’s most fragile countries and giving vulnerable people a chance to build lives closer to home and therefore increasing the UK’s security.

The UK stepped up early with support and lobbied others to do more which has prevented the spread of famine. We are showing our continued leadership with more food, more water and more medicine for those at imminent risk of dying from drought and conflict.

The world must follow our lead and act now to put an end to humanitarian crises that threaten our global stability and help accelerate progress on peace, security and prosperity – which is firmly in everyone’s interest.

Ms Patel has also pressed international partners – including the World Bank – to disburse funding more quickly. The Bank has since pledged $1.8 billion to respond to the crises, including $50 million to Somalia and $100 million to Ethiopia to help people in drought affected areas access food assistance, water and health services.

The world has faced an unprecedented number of humanitarian crises in 2017, including a famine in parts of South Sudan, the first declared globally since 2011.

Severe drought conditions, cholera and measles outbreaks, losses of livestock and increasing numbers of people fleeing their homes have put people in Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia back on the brink of starvation, threatening millions of lives.

Half the population of Somalia have no reliable access to food and are facing the possibility of a third famine in 25 years.

The UK continues to work with the Governments of Somalia and Ethiopia, and partners such as UNICEF, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, and NGOs to ensure aid reaches those most in need.

While in the country, Ms Patel saw crates of UK aid ready to be loaded onto aircraft at Mogadishu airport, to reach people across the country. Following the London Somalia Conference earlier this year, Ms Patel reaffirmed the need for the international community to continue to support Somalia, not just through emergency aid but also by strengthening security to keep Somalia on course for increased peace, stability and prosperity.

For Ethiopia this is the second severe drought in two years. As the second largest refugee hosting country in Africa, Ethiopia’s resources are being stretched to the limit with 880,000 refugees who have fled war and violence in neighbouring countries. The UK is working with its international partners to improve the infrastructure, local services and job opportunities in Ethiopia to help the country cope with the increase in refugees and prevent onward migration.

As part of her visit, the Secretary of State announced a £90 million package of urgently needed support which will help more than 2 million more people in desperate need of clean water, food, and basic medical supplies in Somalia and Ethiopia. This includes £60 million in new funding for Somalia, and a £30 million allocation for Ethiopia.

Priti Patel visited a food distribution centre in Ethiopia to see first-hand how UK aid is supporting people at risk of hunger and to meet the UK aid workers on the front line. She also visited a health centre, one of many UK aid is supporting across Ethiopia, to see how malnourished children are receiving life-saving support, including an innovative peanut paste which gives them vital nutrients.

Notes to Editors

1. Before February, there had been only one certified famine globally since 2000. Parts of South Sudan are now in famine and in 2017 there is a credible risk of another three famines: in Somalia, Yemen and North East Nigeria, with Ethiopia and Kenya also suffering from severe drought. More than 20 million men, women and children face the very real risk of dying from starvation in the next six months because of relentless war and drought.
2. In Ethiopia, 7.8 million men, women and children are at risk of going hungry, while in Somalia over 6 million do not have reliable access to food.
3. The UK has now pledged £321.5 million in response to the humanitarian crises in East Africa this year.
4. More information about previous announcements of UK support for East Africa can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-outlines-new-humanitarian-support-and-urges-international-community-to-save-lives-before-its-too-late and here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-scales-up-humanitarian-relief-efforts-in-somalia and here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/priti-patel-will-double-public-donations-to-the-disasters-emergency-committee-east-africa-crisis-appeal-this-weekend
5. £60 million pledged for Somalia is new money – not previously allocated to our Somalia budget – for the rest of 2017.
6. £30 million pledged for Ethiopia is an allocation of money from our Ethiopia budget for the rest of the financial year of 2017/18.
7. £60 million of UK aid will provide:

• 350,000 people with emergency food
• Access to clean water and sanitation to over 1 million people
• Shelter for 100,000 people
• Vaccinations for 2 million livestock
• And protection for 20,000 vulnerable women at risk from violence and trafficking.

1. The number of people in need of food in Ethiopia has risen sharply. £30 million of UK aid provide:

• Emergency food support for 1.5 million people
• Life-saving nutritional support to more than 154,000 starving children and pregnant and breastfeeding women
• Safe drinking water for 100,000 people
• Livestock support for 500,000 people.
• 10 mobile protection teams to provide child protection, support victims of sexual violence and help internally displaced people and their host communities

ENDS

This is the first chance we have had to talk to our European friends and colleagues since some of the attacks that we have had in the UK. The London Bridge attack in particular of course, where most of the fatalities were from other European countries. We had 3 French casualties, 2 Poles, 1 very brave Spanish fatality you’ll remember.

So this is a chance for us to talk about that together on what we’re doing on counter-terrorism, particularly on occupying the space, the cyber-space taken up by the terrorists and working together, as the Prime Minister Theresa May has said, to deprive them of that space. To work with the internet companies, to stop them from allowing those guys to peddle their filth and their perverted ideology on the internet.

Obviously this is the first day of the talks on Brexit, and I think the most important thing is that, of course there’ll be lots of discussions about the nature of the deal we are going to do, but I think, on the discussion about money and so forth, I think the most important thing now is for us to look to the horizon. Raise our eyes to the horizon. Think about the future. Think about the new partnership. The deep and special partnership that we want to build with our friends and I think in the long run this will be good for the UK and good for the rest of Europe. That’s we are hoping for.

The UKTI Minister,Mark Garnier visited Mongolia from 31 March to 1 April.

I’m here in Brussels today, to begin the next phase of our work to build a new, deep and special partnership with the European Union.

But our thoughts this morning are rightly with the victims and families of the awful attack in London early this morning and with those who have lost loved ones in Portugal too in that terrible tragedy there.

It is at testing times like these that we are reminded of the values and the resolve we share with our closest allies in Europe.

For there is more that unites us than divides us.

So while there will undoubtedly be challenging times ahead of us in the negotiations we will do all that we can to ensure we deliver a deal that works in the best interests of all of our citizens.

To that end we are starting this negotiation in a positive and constructive tone, determined to build a strong and special partnership between ourselves, our European allies and friends.

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has today (19 June 2017) announced that it opened a statutory inquiry into the Anatolia People’s Cultural Centre, registered charity number 1107957, in April 2016. The Commission did not previously make the inquiry public to avoid any potential prejudice to a criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police and a consequent trial of a trustee of the charity for terrorism offences.

In April 2016 information was shared with the Commission by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command that the charity’s premises were searched due to an ongoing counter terrorism investigation. As a result of the search, a trustee of the charity was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and the charity’s premises were later closed, and remain closed, by a court order. In addition to supporting the Metropolitan Police’s criminal investigation, the Commission also had concerns about the trustees’ management of the charity and whether its property, including its premises, were used solely to further the charity’s stated purposes. The trustees have also repeatedly failed to file the charity’s accounts in default of their legal duties.

The scope of the Commission’s investigation is to consider the:

• administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees
• financial controls and management of the charity and whether its funds have been properly expended solely for exclusively charitable purposes and can be accounted for
• conduct of the trustees
• whether or not the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law

As part of its investigation the Commission has exercised a number of its regulatory powers to protect any property that may be held in the name of the charity, restrict the trustees’ fundraising activities without the Commission’s prior authorisation and to suspend the trustee who was the subject of the police’s investigation and subsequent trial. This trial has now concluded and the trustee was found not guilty. The trustee in question remains suspended and the Commission is considering further regulatory action.

In addition, the Commission has taken action using its new powers under section 181A (of the Charities Act 2011) to disqualify the charity’s 5 other trustees from being a charity trustee for a period of 10 years as a result of their misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. Further information will be provided on conclusion of the inquiry.

The Commission is not a prosecuting authority and the investigation of criminal offences is a matter for the police and/or other authorities. If charity property or assets are at risk the Commission will take action to protect these either of its own motion or in collaboration with other agencies.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 48/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. Details of how the Commission reports on its regulatory work can be found on GOV.UK.
4. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
5. The Commission’s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.
6. Miss Ayfer Yildiz was tried for 2 counts of disseminating of terrorist publications contrary to section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and found not guilty on both counts on 18 May 2017.
7. The new discretionary disqualification power in section 181A of the Charities Act 2011 brought in by the Charites Act 2016 allows the regulator to disqualify a person it considers unfit from being a trustee, for a maximum period of 15 years.
8. On 2 May 2017 the Commission made an order under section 181A of the Charities Act 2011, in respect of the 5 trustees, having satisfied itself that the statutory test had been met. The effect of the order, which came into force on 13 June 2017, is to disqualify the 5 individuals from being a charity trustee or trustee for a charity in respect of any charity in England and Wales (whether registered with the Commission or not) for a period of 10 years. The order also disqualifies them from holding any office or employment with senior management functions in any such charity for the same period.