Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking as penholder for Sudan on the UN Security Council to (a) tackle the humanitarian situation in Sudan and (b) help ensure that human rights abuses are properly investigated.

We are working with international partners and humanitarian agencies to scale-up aid delivery in Sudan and neighbouring countries if and when the access situation improves, and through our ongoing work in the neighbouring countries and the UN. On 2 June the UK secured unanimous Security Council support for the renewal of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) which is leading coordination of international humanitarian efforts. We will look to renew its mandate further by 3 December. As Chair of the 'Sudan Core Group' (US, Norway, Germany, UK), we led on a UN Human Rights Council resolution, adopted on 11 October, which established an independent, international, Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan to investigate atrocities committed by all sides.