Conflict-affected Countries: Adolescent Girls

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)]

My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend on securing this debate and her extensive work on women, peace and security. I shall focus my remarks on the support needed in South Sudan, where 60% of all sexual assaults are on girls aged 18 and under. I would be grateful if my noble friend the Minister could update the House on the work of DfID, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence to deliver that support.

It is five years since the outbreak of a conflict that has had a devastating impact on the peoples of South Sudan. It is a country where 72% of children are out of school and a girl is more likely to die in childbirth than to complete her education. My honourable friend Minister Baldwin recently announced an additional £70 million for the next round of the Girls’ Education South Sudan programme. It aims to keep girls in school and to tackle the negative attitudes to women and girls that lead to early and forced marriage. How will the Government measure the success of that project?

During the conflict there was widespread perpetration of rape. Instances of that continue today in some parts of the country. The stigma and rejection faced by survivors of rape create obstacles for them to report crimes and seek medical and psychosocial help. My noble friend has already referred to the Plan International research, which showed just how affected—how mentally scarred—people were by their experience and how difficult it is for them to get any support. Indeed, Plan International points out that there is little or no evidence that there is any professional support for mental health issues across South Sudan for girls who have suffered such horrific assaults.

When I visited South Sudan, I co-hosted with UNFPA a workshop on stigma faced by survivors of widespread rapes committed during the conflict and continuing today. It was encouraging to listen to the discussions of girls and boys who were not accustomed to being asked for their views about what should be done to improve their own lives and prevent future violence. Last month, our ambassador to South Sudan and her staff travelled to Wau because they wanted to hear directly from women and girls—not just the chiefs—about what more the UK can do to support them. That was admirable and, in perilous circumstances, risky. It is vital to include adolescent girls in the design, implementation and evaluation of the humanitarian programmes that will affect them.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence recently visited South Sudan himself. Just a couple of weeks ago he went to Bentiu and Malakal in the north of the country, as well as to Juba. He learned about the impact of the extensive use of sexual violence in conflict, and he wants the Ministry of Defence, instead of the Foreign Office, to lead on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, saying:

“I see defence as the department leading on this across government and internationally”.


What is the Government’s view on where the departmental lead should be?

When I visited the Protection of Civilians camp in Malakal, which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence also visited recently, I learned how international support can have unintended consequences if it focuses only on the delivery of one level of support and does not look at the whole problem. I met an orphaned teenage survivor of rape, who was bringing up her child. She told me that she now felt able to risk leaving the camp to go in search of enough food to feed both her child and her younger siblings, because, she said, “Now that we have a clinic here, I know that when I’m raped, I can get medical treatment when I get back to the camp”. What an indictment of the way people have to make choices.

The Government of South Sudan, the international community, civil society and leaders of faith all need to do more to work together to ensure that such girls can face a better future.