The UK Associate Parliamentary Group invites written evidence on South Sudan’s Conflict
CALL FOR EVIDENCE
Written and Oral Hearings: UK and International Engagement with South Sudan 2011-2014
The UK Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan and South Sudan invites written evidence and will conduct oral hearings into the role of the UK and International Community in supporting peace and development in South Sudan from the referendum on self-determination in January 2011 to the outbreak of conflict in Juba in December 2013.
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Read the Call for Evidence below, find it attached or click here< http://sudanapg.createsend1.com/t/d-l-zjrljl-l-a/> to download.
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Background
As a result of widespread fighting in large parts of the country, more than 1.2 million people are newly displaced and the UN warns that some 7 million face the prospect of famine. Yet, the war follows a period of huge international support to South Sudan and political engagement with its leaders. These hearings aim to learn positive lessons from this experience.
Global overseas assistance to South Sudan runs into billions of dollars every year and the budget for the UN Mission in South Sudan 2013-2014 is a further $1 billion. Over the last three years the UK has been one of the biggest donors investing in improving conditions in South Sudan, estimating its spending to be £74 million in 2011/12, £91million in 2012/3 and £96m in 2013/2014 (not including contributions to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan or the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid).
Looking forwards, international assistance to South Sudan will increase further.
On 20th May, donors agreed to give more than $614 million, on top of $536 million already pledged to a UN appeal. UN officials in Oslo said they needed $1.8 billion in aid, up from their previous figure of $1.3 billion.
These parliamentary hearings will ask what lessons the UK, its international partners, and humanitarian and development actors should draw from the experience and identify key issues to help inform the design of future humanitarian support, development assistance and diplomatic engagement.
Our goals
Our goal is to produce a positive, forward-looking hearings process and report which highlights clear lessons which should be learned from UK and international engagement with South Sudan over the last 3 years. The lessons and recommendations will represent the views of the Committee only.
The Parliamentary hearings will be overseen by a Committee chaired by an MP or Peer and made up of at least a further 3 MP’s or Peers with relevant experience as well as 2 subject matter experts.
Call for Submissions
The group invites short written submissions from interested organisations and individuals with relevant experience and expertise. The group is particularly interested in receiving submissions, including case studies, which address any of the following inter-related issues:
* Humanitarian Assistance: Funding mechanisms, priorities, coordination, service delivery and the peace dividend, support to government functioning
* State building: Accountable governance and participatory politics
* Support to economic development: Food security and wealth creation
* Security and access to justice: Including the position of women
* Diplomatic engagement: Conflict analysis, governance, security sector reform, borders and boundaries
* Building a sustainable peace: Peace building and reconciliation, looking beyond the CPA, support to civil society and the media, peace dividends, UNMISS
Please note that submissions are welcome to include historical information from outside of the 2011-2013 period where this is necessary to understand the lessons of the 2011-2013 period, and where a longer perspective is required to inform future engagement.
Following the submission of written evidence, the Committee will select a small number of respondents to present oral evidence in Westminster. The oral hearings will take place in July 2014 and will be open to the public (closed hearings may be undertaken at the request of witnesses). Please include details of your availability to travel to the United Kingdom (including any known visa restrictions) and whether or not you would be able to give evidence publicly on the covering letter which will accompany your written submission.
Written evidence may be posted on a dedicated APG website or quoted within the report document following Hearings. If this is not acceptable to the organisation or person submitting the written evidence this should be clearly stated and the right to anonymous submission will be respected.
Written evidence should:
* Be submitted by 1700 (GMT) on Thursday 3 July 2014. It will not be possible to accept late submissions.
* If possible, be provided electronically in MS Word or Rich Text format either by e-mail to milnerc@parliament.uk<http://milnerc@parliament.uk> or on a hard disk by post. If submitted by e-mail attachment, the covering letter should be sent in the body of the e-mail to verify the security of the accompanying attachment.
* Be no longer than 3,000 words and begin with a short abstract of no more than 250 words summarising the submission.
* Contain your full postal address and contact details and include a brief biography of the persons or organisations submitting written evidence (stating their area of expertise, relevant qualifications, etc).
Supplementary material (leaflets, articles from periodicals, etc.) may also be sent and will welcomed, but the submission itself must be self-contained and it must summarise the key points of the supplementary material.
Any inquiries or postal submissions should be directed to Chris Milner, Co-ordinator, APG Sudan and South Sudan, C/O William Bain MP, House of Commons, Westminster SW1A 0AA, UK ormilnerc@parliament.uk <http://milnerc@parliament.uk>.
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House of Commons
SW11 0AA
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Chris Milner
Secretariat, Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan and South Sudan
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