Sudan

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I do. I met Tom Fletcher yesterday to talk about exactly this. I pay tribute to all those who are working in the most dangerous and difficult circumstances in Sudan. It is tragic that we see so many of them losing their own lives as part of that endeavour, so I join my noble friend in her remarks.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, as the noble Baroness has highlighted and acknowledged, the conflict in Sudan has been marked from the very beginning by horrific violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, abductions, forced marriage and countless other abuses. How are the Government supporting UNFPA and other local organisations to ensure that UK aid is specifically reaching women and girls caught up in this conflict?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We have put in gender-based violence advisers on the border to help with the psychosocial effects of what people have had to endure. We are now the biggest funder internationally, I think, of UNFPA, because this is such a priority for us, but the noble Baroness is right to draw our attention to the fact that this method of violence, this subjugation, terror and attempts to humiliate and control women in this conflict as a weapon of war is abhorrent and is among the worst that we have ever seen. I hesitate to compare different humanitarian crises, but this is on the largest scale that we have seen this century.