Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 November 2025

Debate

Contribution

My noble friend is right. Some of the accounts that we have heard are completely harrowing. I will never forget being told some of these stories, sitting in a tent in Adré and looking into the eyes of a mother who told me her account of what has happened. We need to make sure that accountability is achieved. We also need to make sure that we work with some of those armed groups, even now, to try to make the case—futile though that often seems, you have to start somewhere—for the need to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is not happening by any stretch of the imagination at the moment. We are clear about what we stand for and on the rules of conflict that we expect, but this is not going to stop until the leaders of these armed groups decide that they would prefer a political solution, which involves dialogue, coming to a conclusion and the election of a civilian Government. These things feel a very long way off at the moment, but until they are achieved we will continue to see the darkest shade of hell that I have ever had to bear witness to. I fear for what happens to those communities in Sudan, particularly those women and those very young children.

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