Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the sexual violence, harassment, threats and other forms of abuse against Sudanese women’s rights defenders; and what assessment they have made of what more could be done to end the range of abuses experienced including sexual violence.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

All instances of sexual violence, harassment or abuse against women are deeply concerning, but the recent Human Rights Watch report sets out a number of disturbing instances of harassment and abuse of female human rights defenders. The UK will continue to press the Government of Sudan to take action on sexual and gender-based violence. We are also funding a number of projects, including training for lawyers taking on court cases relating to public order laws and legal redress to victims of sexual violence. We assess that the Government of Sudan needs to take action on a number of fronts to end such abuses, including further revising the Criminal Act and other laws pertinent to the prosecution of sexual offences.