Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of humanitarian access to South Sudan.

Physical and bureaucratic impediments continue to affect the ability of organisations to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid in South Sudan. Over 1,900 humanitarian access incidents have been reported since the start of 2016, and at least 95 aid workers have been killed since the conflict began; this makes South Sudan one of the most dangerous operating environments in the world for humanitarian actors.

The continued obstruction of humanitarian aid by the Government of South Sudan is completely unacceptable. We are engaging with South Sudan’s leaders at the highest level, alongside international partners, to make clear they have a direct responsibility to improve access and stop the suffering of their people.