Sudan

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome the hon. Member’s points about the horrendous way in which children are being targeted. Some of the most disturbing reports are of children and women who have managed to flee from one of the cities under siege. They are leaving—they are fleeing, they are running away—yet on those journeys, they are stopped and face rape, sexual violence and kidnapping. The most terrible crimes are being committed, so we are working on how we can strengthen support for children and use not just the work of the UN Security Council or that of the UN more widely, but any international forum we have, to raise the plight of children.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary very much for her tone, her words and her obvious empathy and compassion for the Sudanese victims, which are greatly appreciated by us all.

The UN’s presence in famine-stricken Kadugli in South Kordofan and risk zones in Darfur and Kordofan in order to prevent mass atrocities and widespread sexual violence against women and girls, and a substantial increase in UK and international funding, are needed to avert catastrophic further loss of life and what the UN describes as the world’s largest and most neglected humanitarian crisis—I think many Members of this House, including the Foreign Secretary, would say that that is exactly the case. Millions have been displaced, famine has been confirmed in multiple locations, and over 12 million people are in desperate need. What can be done to help provide the humanitarian and medical aid that is needed, including to address the psychological impact on those women and girls? I cannot begin to try to comprehend that, but I think the Foreign Secretary acknowledges that and understands it better than most.