Sudan

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leeds for everything that he has done in this House and beyond and for leading us on the debate on Sudan today.

I will focus on the impact of the conflict on children, as 3.2 million children under five are expected to have suffered acute malnutrition this year, with over 770,000 of them likely to have experienced severe acute malnutrition. That is another name for famine in this world. The regions of Darfur and Kordofan remain the epicentre of a conflict where 20 areas are at immediate risk of famine for all. Occasional fragile truces are broken with impunity and seem to be an excuse to regroup before launching further mass killings and rapes. The humanitarian situation in El Fasher deteriorated very sharply last month. Community kitchens shut down after exhausting food supplies. Prices continue to increase, with a sack of animal fodder now used as food reported as costing over £400.

Children urgently need help from the international community to survive. Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms—grass-roots, volunteer-led, co-ordinated networks—are doing their best in the most appalling conditions to provide medical care and humanitarian assistance in areas where state services have collapsed. Charities such as Kids for Kids are working with communities in Darfur and doing all they can to ensure that protein-rich goat milk and food reach malnourished children. The charity provides goat loans. The poorest families receive five goats and after two years, once that little flock has grown, the five goats are passed on to another family to assist the children there.

Can the Minister update the House on what support the Government can give to Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms and those charities which are doing their utmost to continue their work despite the atrocities that they see around them every day of the year?