Sudan: Protection of Civilians Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateJoe Morris
Main Page: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)Department Debates - View all Joe Morris's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(1 day, 18 hours ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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 Stephen Doughty
        
    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
            Stephen Doughty 
        
    
        
    
        I am very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with further details of how our arms export licensing criteria operate, but I can assure him that we have one of the tightest and strictest export control regimes in the world. It is compliant with our international legal obligations, and all potential exports are assessed against the strategic export licensing criteria. Specific allegations have been made in this case, and I can absolutely assure the hon. Gentleman that we will always look into allegations very seriously and consider them in the wider round.
 Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)
    
        
    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
            Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab) 
        
    
        
    
        I associate myself with colleagues’ comments about the barbarity of the events we are seeing in Sudan. May I ask that in addition to providing support to ensure that civilians are protected, we provide support to ensure that any crimes being committed are properly memorialised, so that those responsible can be properly held to account in the future?
 Stephen Doughty
        
    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
            Stephen Doughty 
        
    
        
    
        I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. As I have said, we fund the Centre for Information Resilience, which is an NGO that collates evidence of these crimes, and we look at all the evidence that is provided. It is incredibly difficult. We play a leading role in the UN fact-finding mission, but of course that mission has not been allowed physical access to the region, which is one of the major challenges in assessing the allegations that have been made.