Melanie Ward
Main Page: Melanie Ward (Labour - Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy)Department Debates - View all Melanie Ward's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(2 days, 9 hours ago)
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Catherine West
I thank the hon. Lady for her leadership role in the previous Parliament as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Sudan and South Sudan and as International Development Minister.
There are a number of partners; she has mentioned some of them. The participants at the London Sudan conference included Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, South Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, and of course the like-mindeds: Norway, Canada, the USA and Switzerland. It was a perfect moment and the hon. Lady asks how we can continue that. We will redouble our efforts to work with the multilaterals such as the UN and the League of Arab States. There is quite a lot on their agenda at the moment, but it is very important that Sudan is not brought down the agenda just because it is in Africa. That is a fear, which is why it is so good to see the reporting in the Financial Times, The Guardian, and many of our other mainstream newspapers, to keep it in the spotlight. We will ensure that we work bilaterally with the countries we work with in normal times, and on a multilateral level to maintain our leadership role.
Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)
The humanitarian situation in Sudan is horrific, with the growing perpetration of atrocity crimes against civilians. This is part of a growing pattern of mass atrocity crimes being perpetrated across the world, but the UK Government’s strategy on prevention of and response to mass atrocity crimes has not been updated since 2019. Does the Minister agree that it is time for a fresh approach to this vital issue?
Catherine West
My hon. Friend knows of what she speaks, with her role before she came to this place. I shall take that as an action from today’s dialogue.