Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of success that they or United Nations agencies are having in reaching refugees fleeing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Access into Sudan remains extremely limited, including almost no access to parts of Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan states. We continue to work with the UN, neighbouring states, donors and humanitarian agencies to coordinate the effective delivery of aid in Sudan and urge the parties to the conflict to abide by their commitments under international humanitarian law. It is essential that lifesaving humanitarian aid is allowed to reach those in harder-to-reach areas, such as Darfur. The Minister for Development and Africa [Andrew Mitchell] announced that the UK will provide £21.7 million in humanitarian aid for Sudan. This follows an earlier announcement of £5 million to help meet the urgent needs of refugees and returnees in South Sudan and Chad. This aid will provide assistance such as safe drinking water, food, medical care and shelter to people in need, as well as supporting Gender Based Violence protection services. The UK also continues to fund and provide support to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan (OHCHR), a UN body that provides a crucial role in monitoring and reporting on human rights violations. OHCHR have deployed staff to neighbouring countries' borders to interview survivors of the violence, with a view to collecting witness testimonies and preserving these for possible future accountability mechanisms, should they be established.