Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to reports of the arrest and detention of 13 Christians in south Darfur in October 2018, what progress his Department has made through the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue on promoting freedom of religion or belief in Sudan.

The British Government is aware of reports of the detention of 13 Christians in Darfur last month, and welcomes their recent release. We continue to make clear to the Government of Sudan our expectation that all detainees are treated in accordance with international standards. Sudan remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and we discussed freedom of religion or belief at the sixth round of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue on 7 November. I visited Sudan in September, and the Minister for the Commonwealth and UN visited in October. We both raised religious freedom issues with senior members of the government and with Christian and Muslim religious leaders.