Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Mali.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK remains concerned about the human rights situation in Mali. In recent years civilians have suffered from widespread human rights abuses, particularly during the occupation of northern Mali by terrorist groups. Women and girls have been victims of sexual violence and children have been recruited into armed groups. Those who commit human rights violations continue to act with impunity. Negotiations in Algiers are taking place between the government and armed groups aimed at reaching a sustainable peace agreement, which would lead to an improvement in human rights in Mali.

The UK is actively working to improve human rights in Mali including with partners. For example, we are providing a curriculum of training in international humanitarian law as part of the EU’s training mission to the Malian Armed Forces. So far some 3,000 Malian soldiers have received this training. We also support the work of the UN to monitor human rights abuses in Mali.