Asked by: Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) there is no impunity for perpetrators of rape and abuse and (b) women are represented in peace talks in South Sudan.
Answered by Lord Swire
We are deeply concerned by the number of cases of sexual violence during the current conflict in South Sudan. The UK invited South Sudan to the Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London in June, and successfully lobbied for it to sign the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. We welcome that the joint communiqué by President Kiir and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Zainab Bangura on 11 October explicitly recognised the need to address impunity for sexual violence crimes, and we will work to support and monitor implementation of this commitment. Accountability for human rights violations, including sexual and gender based violence, will be an important component of any peace deal in South Sudan, and the UK has offered strong and sustained support to the AU Commission of Inquiry and other organisations seeking to monitor human rights abuses during the conflict. We also continue to underline both in public and in private the need for the regionally mediated South Sudan peace talks to be inclusive and representative of all the people of South Sudan, especially women. For example, the UK’s statement in a discussion on South Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council on September 24th emphasized the importance of the participation of women in the peace process, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.