Bishop of Oxford calls for action on sexual violence in Syria

On 2nd July 2014, Conservative Peer Baroness Jenkin of Kennington asked Her Majesty’s Government for their assessment of the alleged sexual violence crimes committed against Syrian civilians in Syria.The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard, asked a supplementary question.

11.12.15 Bishop of OxfordThe Lord Bishop of Oxford: My Lords, given that discussion of sexual violence is always a very sensitive subject in any culture, will the Minister give assurance that the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative team that is working in Syria will draw in responsible, enlightened religious leaders to combat the stigma that is so often associated with these awful crimes? This can prevent the kind of recriminations and rejection by communities and families that can result from them.

Baroness Warsi: The right reverend Prelate makes an incredibly important point. Faith as part of the solution to dealing with sexual violence was an important element of the summit, and we hosted two very successful fringe events. One involved a coalition mainly of church leaders, called We Will Speak Out. The other was at ministerial level where we hosted Sheikh Bin Bayyah, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and discussed the way in which we can get faith communities to be the first point of support in both providing protection and changing the culture that perpetuates the culture of impunity.

(via Parliament.uk)