Sudan: Christianity

(asked on 9th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to protect Sudanese Christians from persecution and harm since the military coup on 25 October 2021 in that country.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 18th November 2021

We strongly condemn the actions of the Sudanese military on 25 October, including the continued detention of Prime Minister Hamdok and members of the civilian government and the unilateral appointment of a new Sovereign Council on 11 November. Over the past two years, the UK has taken a leading role to support Sudan on their delicate path from oppressive autocratic rule to freedom and democracy. We welcome the progress made by the civilian-led government on the freedom of religion or belief since 2019, which included decriminalising apostasy declaring Christmas a national holiday and lifting public order laws that disproportionately affected Christian women. The acts of the military puts this progress at risk.

I condemned the military's actions in the strongest terms in the House of Commons on 25 October and called for Sudanese people of all faiths to be able to meet to protest and to pray without fear of violence. The Foreign Secretary then made a statement on 5 November with a clear call for the release of all those unlawfully detained and the restoration of the civilian-led transitional government. We also secured unanimous support for a resolution on the situation in Sudan at a Special Session at the UN Human Rights Council on 5 November, which made clear that Sudan's civilian-led government must be restored, detainees freed, and human rights respected. We continue to maintain public international pressure on the military to return to the democratic transition in order to deliver the freedom, peace and justice called for by the Sudanese people and ensure that the gains of the last two years are not lost.

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