Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of sexual violence perpetrated by armed actors in Darfur.

I thank the Rt. Hon Member for her consistent and passionate campaigning on this issue. The UK remains determined to tackle the abhorrent levels of violence against women and girls in Sudan, including the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war, and we continue to work with international partners and Non Governmental Organisations to provide support to the victims of that violence, to pursue justice against the perpetrators, and to seek a path to lasting peace and security in Sudan, so that women and girls in that country, and those that have fled to neighbouring countries, can live their lives free from fear.