Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of reports that the Sudanese security and military services (a) used violence against and (b) raped peaceful protesters under the orders of the Transitional Military Council on 10 June 2019 in Khartoum; and if he will make a statement.

On 3 June, the Foreign Secretary condemned the attack on protestors by Sudanese security forces, and held the Transitional Military Council (TMC) fully responsible. On 6 June, I summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express our grave concerns at the use of all forms of violence, including sexual violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. This was reiterated in a recent statement issued by the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on 17 June, which called for the immediate cessation of all violence against the Sudanese people, including extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary killings, beatings and sexual and gender-based violence, arrests and disappearances.

We have been consistent in public and in private that there must be accountability for the crimes committed by members of the former regime. The UK strongly supports the mission of the International Criminal Court; due legal process must be followed. I also set out the UK's position at the FAC that called for the human rights of all Sudanese people to be respected, and the resumption of the political process leading to an agreed peaceful transfer of power to a civilian-led government, as demanded by the Sudanese people.