South Sudan

Baroness Cox Excerpts

Wednesday 1st February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

I am absolutely ready to give that undertaking, and I am glad to hear the noble Lord’s support. He is right that this has been, in a sense, an almost forgotten tragedy. I am very much reminded of the report by the chair of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, when she said that,

“it is conceivable that the scale of sexual violence … already matches that of the Bosnian war—and yet we rarely hear about it”.

[Baroness Cox (CB)]

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that when I was recently in South Sudan visiting places outside Juba, I was of course aware of the horrendous problems, but I was also deeply encouraged by the resilience of many local initiatives by local people in education, agriculture and reconciliation? Many of those local NGOs, including the churches, cannot access DfID funding because of bureaucratic procedures. Will Her Majesty’s Government consider ways to make funding available to those in-country NGOs doing such effective and much-needed work?

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, I am always happy to learn from the noble Baroness’s experiences on the ground, and I will certainly look at that. With regard to aid, we have taken a lead role. We have contributed £357 million to address the humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of conflict. The Government of South Sudan have continued to block access to some areas, but I give this undertaking to the people of South Sudan, one that I feel sure that the House will join: we will not abandon them.