Sudan

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Yes, in short. We need to use a variety of agencies in order to reach people. The noble Lord is also right in what he says about nutrition: we see people who are badly malnourished, and that has other impacts. Cholera is now present, for example. Even the work that we do on the border in refugee camps is hampered by the condition that people find themselves in. Vaccinations become difficult because they are less effective when a child is malnourished. I fear that the impact of this is going to be very long lasting.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, referred to the extreme levels of sexual violence happening in Sudan, particularly against women and girls. As a result of a lack of funding, the UNFPA—the sexual and reproductive health agency—has been forced to withdraw from more than half of the 93 health facilities that it had been supporting in Sudan, meaning that women, girls and men who were victims of sexual violence are not getting the support that they were previously. Does the Minister agree that that is both a tragedy and a huge failure of the international community?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Yes, I am happy to agree with that; it is dreadful, and if there is a way that we can address this, then we should be doing it. We are doing what we can to support women and girls who have been through the most hideous of experiences. I have sat with them, looked them in the eye and heard what they have had to say. Where support can be provided, it is being provided, but the difficulty for any agency of operating in that context cannot be overestimated. It is incredibly challenging. I commend all those who are doing so, because they are putting their lives at risk every day. We see attacks on aid workers and the deliberate targeting of the delivery of food, including in camps. There is currently nowhere on earth that is as difficult as Sudan to operate in.