Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of prevalence of sexual violence in conflict in Sri Lanka.

Mr Hugo Swire

We remain concerned at reports of a culture of impunity for rape and sexual violence and a lack of support for victims in Sri Lanka, as well as reports of the use of sexual violence as a means of torture in custody. We are clear that rape and sexual violence whether during conflict or afterwards is unacceptable and must stop and we are committed to tackling sexual violence in conflict wherever it happens.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) and I have urged Sri Lanka to sign up to the UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, and we are supporting projects to ensure a zero tolerance approach to rape and sexual violence in Sri Lanka. On 27 March, the UN Human Rights Council agreed a resolution on Sri Lanka that establishes an international investigation into allegations of violations of international law of both sides of the military conflict, and calls upon the Sri Lankan government to make progress on reconciliation and human rights. The resolution also expresses serious concern at continuing reports of sexual and gender based violence.