Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the UK is giving to human rights defenders working in Sudan.

Sudan is a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and we remain concerned about the human rights situation in Sudan. We used the fourth round of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue to agree steps that the Government of Sudan would take to further progress on human rights issues, and to raise again our concerns.

We welcomed the recent release and pardoning of six human rights activists, including Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, an issue on which we actively lobbied the Government of Sudan. However, a number of human rights challenges remain. The UK will continue to be a strong advocate of the work that human rights defenders do in Sudan. Our Embassy in Khartoum maintains a regular dialogue with the Government of Sudan on human rights issues, and we will continue to lobby them on individual cases of particular concern.