Ukraine: Rape as a Weapon of War

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Friday 1st April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

On the noble Lord’s second point, and as I have indicated, we are liaising with Karim closely and will certainly take that up with him. On his earlier point about arrivals here, I shall share that with the Home Office. We offer a wide range of support, but I shall come back to the noble Lord on that particular issue. The case that the noble Lord mentioned is unfortunately, regrettably and tragically not the only one. We have been following the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, who has articulated clearly the widespread nature of conflict-related sexual violence. We are engaging directly with the leadership of Ukraine to ensure that it knows that it has our full support. We will extend our support in every respect on this important issue.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, it is a tragic reality that in conflicts and crises around the world sexual violence has become a weapon of war. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s commitment to do more to tackle sexual violence in conflict. Does my noble friend have any update on the idea of a new international convention that would help to hold perpetrators to account?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is of course right. We are working through a new initiative to strengthen our approach to sexual violence launched by my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary. We are increasing the number of countries that are now part of that. As I indicated, I shall also be at the UN in a couple of weeks’ time, where this will be primary among my engagements bilaterally. I can share with your Lordships’ House that we have already made a public commitment to holding a specific event on preventing sexual violence in conflict. We are finalising some of the dates, but it is likely to be in the last quarter of this year.