Committees

South Sudan humanitarian response to be examined

14 November 2016

The International Development Committee will hold a one-off evidence session on the situation in South Sudan and the implications for DFID's work in the area.

Forthcoming evidence session

The International Committee will be holding an evidence session on Tuesday 13 December,  the Committee is particularly interested in the following issues/questions:

  • The current political and humanitarian situation on the ground in South Sudan
  • Has the humanitarian response to the crisis in South Sudan been sufficient, including for the large number of internally displaced people (IDPs)? What could DFID, both bilaterally and through multilateral channels such as the UN, be doing better?
  • Is DFID, and HMG, doing enough to support efforts towards long-term peace and stability in South Sudan? Is there more the UK Government could be doing?
  • DFID has been supporting efforts to combat violence against women and girls in South Sudan. What are the major concerns and how effective has this work been to date?
  • How is DFID supporting efforts to educate children caught up in the crisis? What more needs to be done?
  • Has any progress been made in ensuring better coordination between the humanitarian response to the crisis and longer-term development efforts?

Written Submissions

If interested parties would like to provide short submissions of written evidence ahead of the Committee meeting then this will need to be with the Committee by the end of the day on Monday 28 November. Written submissions must be no longer than 1500 words in length. 

Send a submission via the Instability and the humanitarian response in South Sudan session page.

The Committee considers requests for reasonable adjustments to its usual arrangements for taking evidence and publishing material, to enhance access. Please contact indcom@parliament.uk or telephone 020 7219 1223.

Background

Since its independence, South Sudan has suffered from internal conflict with a violent civil war fought from 2013-15. An estimated 50,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting. There are about 1.7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country and over 600,000 have been forced into exile in neighbouring countries.

Although a peace agreement was signed in August 2015, this has not stopped internal conflict and many commentators stress the likelihood of the country slipping back into open civil war. South Sudan is second on the Fragile States Index 2016, just below Somalia and just above the Central African Republic.

Further information

Image: iStockphoto