'-'

Department

for International Development

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Stephen Twigg MP

Chair, International Development Committee By email to: indcom@parliament.uk

11 January 2017

Dear Stephen,

Humanitarian Situation in South Sudan

Thank you for your letter of 20 December following the International Development Committee evidence session. As promised, we are responding to some of the points raised during the session.

We remain deeply concerned by the deterioration of the security situation in South Sudan and have continued to take a leading role, contributing £347million to the humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of conflict in December 2013 , along with an additional £1OOmillion to support South Sudanese refugees in the region. As of January 2017 we have spent £20million in Uganda and also plan to spend £3 .9miUion in Ethiopia and £3.2million in Kenya.These figures have increased during the year as the scale of the challenge has increased.

The widespread and credible evidence of sexual violence, targeting of civilians and other human rights abuses in South Sudan is shocking. Rape has sadly been one of the defining characteristics of this conflict, while the reports of castration in Unity State in 2015 were truly abhorrent. We have consistently raised human rights abuses with the Government of South Sudan, insisting that they must stop immediately . We have also spoken out publicly and funded projects to protect civilians and support victims of sexual violence. However, the primary responsibility lies with the leaders of South Sudan. All parties to the conflict must take responsibility for the actions of their forces. We have urged the Government of South Sudan to arrest and deliver justice to perpetrators, and encouraged the African Union to establish the Hybrid Court, which will hold commanders to account. We consistently urge the Government of South Sudan to honour the commitments it signed up to in its 2014 joint communique on the prevention of conflict related sexual violence.

South Sudan remains a priority  country for  our Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative. We took an active role in securing a new UN human rights commission on South Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2016 and were instrumental in strengthening the Commission's mandate in December to include the investigation of sexual and gender-based violence , with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability

You asked about the decision making process of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Before programmes can be developed, the National Security Council (NSC) approves multi-year CSSF allocations each year, informed by high level bids against NSC strategies . The identification of CSSF programmes is led by the Local Strategy Board (LSB), who ensure the programmes impact on specific thematic areas in the country's NSC strategy. The LSB is led by the Head of Mission and includes representation by all relevant NSC Departments. Initial coordination will often take place at a working group level, comprised of both technical (for example , DFID advisors or FCO political officers) and CSSF programme staff. Following the drafting of a detailed business case and results framework , the programme must be approved by the LSB and, if of a value in excess of £2million, also by the relevant Cross-HMG Director-level regional board. Additional approval of programmes may also be required by departmental ministers or senior management for high value or high risk CSSF programme interventions which are being led by their department. Regional and local strategy boards review the impact, risk, and spend of programmes on a quarterly basis. Teams also undertake more in-depth reviews of both strategies and programmes annually. A breakdown of the programmes being delivered is attached to this letter.

You also asked for an update on the work HMG is doing to encourage a UN regional protection force. On 12 August 2016 the UN Security Council (UNSC) approved Resolution 2304 (2016), which extended the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and authorised the establishment of a 4,000 strong Regional Protection Force (RPF) focused  on ensuring stability in and around Juba. The UK worked closely with the US, who lead on UNSC business on South Sudan, to shape this resolution. Since then the UK has focused its efforts on encouraging the UN to swiftly identify troop contributing countries to provide those 4,000 troops, and to put in place the necessary structures in the field to receive them.

At the same time, we have repeatedly lobbied the Government of South Sudan to co­ operate fully with the UN to allow timely deployment of the RPF and to allow UNMISS as a whole freedom of operation in South Sudan. The Government of South Sudan nominally consented to the deployment of the RPF on 4 September 2016, but in practice has sometimes remained obstructive. We will continue to reinforce these points in our contact with the Government of South Sudan, and Mr Ellwood was able to do so most recently during his visit to Juba in December.

The UN has reported regularly to the UNSC on the level of Government of South Sudan cooperation on the RPF, and we continue to lobby for support of a UN arms embargo, and have supported the imposition of sanctions against those who would continue to block the path to peace. We were disappointed that the US-led Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo and individual sanctions on South Sudan failed to pass in December.

On an 'insurance-style system' for aid, DFID is currently exploring a range of options for insurance-based solutions to both natural disasters and political unrest, which may be available to South Sudan at some point in the future. You also asked about the work being carried out to diversify our range of contractors. DFID South Sudan held engagement exercises for two of the largest programmes, the South Sudan Humanitarian Programme (HARISS) and Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACEll) in 2015. These exercises were held in Juba and Nairobi, and were open to NGOs, INGOs and private contractors, aimed at broadening and diversifying the range of implementing partners working on our programmes. In addition, DFID encouraged participation from national NGOs in consortia with INGOs, further increasing the range of providers.

We hope that the evidence session and this response has addressed some of your concerns about the situation in South Sudan. Through the UN, EU, with regional partners and other donors, we will continue to make clear our concern about the deteriorating security  situation, and the risk of genocide, and to try  to prevent  an increase in violence.

James Wharton MP              Tobias Ellwood MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

DFID

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

FCO

Annex

*We have omitted to include information not available for public disclosure, such as payment of international staff in South Sudan and London through the project.

International Development Committee

House of Commons.London.5W1A OAA

•                               Tel 020 7219 1223 Email. jndcom@parliameot uk Website.www oarliamentuk/jndcom

From Stephen Twigg MP, Chair

James Wharton MP

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department for International Development

Tobias Ellwood MP

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Humanitarian situation in South Sudan

Dear James and Tobias.

20 December 2016

Thank you for providing evidence to the Committee on the work undertaken by your Departments 1n South Sudan. Iam sure you share the Committee's serious concerns about the situation in the country.

Iam writing in part to outline the additional Information you kindly promised and to draw your attention to some aspects of evidence heard in the first panel that were particularly shocking. These served to highlight the urgency of humanitarian aid and the need for political leadership.

We were pleased to hear about some of the successes DFID have had. For example, the progress made under the Girls' Education in South Sudan programme - supporting 240,000 girls directly in primary and secondary schools - was heartening and we commend the support being delrvered to improve the lives of the people of South Sudan under extremely challenging circumstances.

That said, the evidence from the first panel was shocking. The Committee 1s conscious of the fact that it is easy to become desensitised to the devastating situation when it is couched in numbers and statistics alone There were specific examples that the Committee would like to draw to your attention to 1n order to highlight the plight of the South Sudanese and the corresponding need for urgent action by your Departments, HMG and the wider international community.

When detailing the plight of displaced people outside of the UN protected camps (the vast majority being outside of these camps), Emma Fanning from Oxfam gave the example of·

"Women with their babies drowning on their backs, hiding in the swamps as militia go past. That fear is so desperate that they are hiding underwater." 1

It was also brought out in evidence that all sides and all parties have been complicit in the killing or castration of men and boys.2 These are horrendous acts of violence added to a litany of other sexual and gender based violence, already endemic in South Sudan. "The UN have

1 Oral e\idence taken on 13112116. HC 824, Q5

2 Oral evidence taken on 13112116, HC S24, Q14

recently said from a survey that 70% of women in Juba have been victims of some form of sexual assault since 201 3."3

The Committee was also shocked to hear the level of displacement occurring. From already alarming numbers of those fleeing the country it was stated that "3,200 people every day since early July [are] crossing the borders, rising [recently] to 4,000 per day."4 This is a dear indication of the desperate situation in South Sudan, as people decide that they have no choice but to flee, and draws attention to the risk of wider regional destabilisation.

We would be grateful to receive an update on what HMG is doing to alleviate the suffering detailed above.

The Committee would also like to request further information on the following:

•         the amount spent in South Sudan under the Conflict, Stability and Secur ity Fund (CSSF) and a detailed breakdown of the programmes being delivered;5

•         a process flow diagram (or equivalent) that details the decision making process used to 1dent1fy which programmes are undertaken in a given country under the CSSF;6

•         an update on the work HMG is doing to encourage a UN regional protection force to be established as part of the UN mission to protect civilians and key humanitarian transit routes;1

•         an update on HMG work to promote agreement on UN arms embargo and targeted sanctions;8

•         detailed information on the 'insurance-style system' mentioned as a possible solution to allow aid funding to be unlocked more quickly than the current system of 'trying to get donors round a table?

•         details on the work being carried out to diversify the range of contractors employed by the two Departments. 10

Lastly the Committee would be very interested to hear your reflections on, and any actions arising from, your forthcoming visits to the region, and hope both Departments use your visits to South Sudan to push this horrendous crisis up the international agenda .

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Twigg MP Chair of the Comm ittee

3 Oral evidence taken on 13/ 12/ 16, HC 824, Ql2

4 Oral evidence taken on 13/ 12/ 16, HC 824, Ql

s Oral evidence taken on 13112/ 16, HC 824, Q30 6 Oral evidence IJlken on 12/ 12/16, HC 824, Q30 7 Oral evidence taken on 13/ 12116, HC 824, Q37 A Oral evidence taken on 13112/ 16, HC 824, Q40 9 Oral evidence uiken on 13112/ 16, HC 824, Q57

10 Oral evidence taken on 13112/16, HC 824, Q59