Despite repeated calls, the warring parties continue to block independent experts from assessing the full scale of casualties across Sudan, but it is clear that they have occurred on a devastating scale. The UK has consistently highlighted the severity of the crisis in Sudan since the start of the conflict in April 2023. As the world's worst humanitarian situation, we assess that over 33 million people are in urgent need of aid, and 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes. We continue to do everything possible alongside our international partners to secure a cessation in the violence and the provision of unrestricted humanitarian support to the millions in desperate need.

We remain concerned about the pattern of drone warfare in Sudan including attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Co-hosting the International Sudan Conference in Berlin on 15 April, we joined other participants in calling on the warring parties to end the conflict and adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law. Previously, on 26 February, we launched the Coalition on Atrocity Prevention and Justice in Sudan, bringing together likeminded partners to press for accountability, advance justice and bolster local peacebuilding and protection efforts.

We read the UN report with great concern. The finding that more than 38,000 women and girls have been killed in the conflict is both devastating and appalling. Through our humanitarian and early recovery programmes, we are addressing the specific needs of women and girls as a priority, for example by supporting trusted humanitarian partners to expand protection and gender-based violence response services. We are clear that the Government of Israel must fully abide by its obligations to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in accordance with international law.

I refer the Noble Lord to Baroness Chapman's oral repeat of the Foreign Secretary's statement on 15 January.

As the noble Lord knows, I believe that we have answered questions on Jimmy Lai very recently, but we continue to raise these cases at ministerial level with the relevant Governments, and we remain deeply concerned that we have been unable to gain the access that we would wish.

Sir David Amess’s death was senseless and tragic, and our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends.

This government takes the safety of members of parliament extremely seriously and significant work has been taken forward since Sir David’s tragic killing. The Prevent strategy is a vital tool to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It has been significantly strengthened over the last decade, including the introduction of the Prevent and Channel Duties in 2015 and we continue to learn lessons and drive improvements to Prevent.

Any decisions on the inquest are for a coroner to decide, but we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure Prevent works effectively to protect us from terrorism.

The limited access environment and ongoing internet and telecommunication disruptions in Sudan means that reporting on the ground is extremely restricted, so there is no accurate estimate of the number of people killed or injured. Recent estimates suggest that there are 5.2 million people internally displaced in Darfur. We continue to take a leading role in supporting processes for justice and accountability in Sudan. The Human Rights Council adopted the UK-led 'Sudan Core Group' resolution in October 2023, mandating the creation of a Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), which will ensure that credible allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including acts of conflict-related sexual violence by all sides, will be investigated impartially in order to support future accountability efforts.

In Sudan 17.7 million people (37 percent of the population) are now thought to be experiencing acute food insecurity. This is likely to worsen in the coming months in parts of West Darfur, Khartoum, and among the displaced population more broadly. In 2024/2025, we are providing £89 million for Sudan, which will include assistance to address food insecurity.

The humanitarian situation in Sudan continues to deteriorate, with almost 18 million people now thought to be in acute food insecurity and 700,000 children already acutely malnourished. The UK is providing more than £38 million in humanitarian funding in 2023-24. The lack of humanitarian access to Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps continues to make it extremely difficult for humanitarian organisations to provide the necessary levels of assistance.

A press release relating to the Ombudsman's report was issued on 30 January. It did not state what evidence the Ombudsman team were basing their observations on or what methodology they had used to determine cause of death. We use all available data sources to assess the severity of food insecurity across northern Ethiopia. In his recent visit to Ethiopia in February 2024, Minister Andrew Mitchell saw firsthand the worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray and announced an additional £100 million to end preventable deaths, targeting three million people across Ethiopia including those who are most at risk in the northern regions.

We are monitoring the situation closely, using a variety of sources of data to assess the level of need. We are committed to providing urgent support to those who need it most, and will continue to increase our funding for Ethiopia in the next financial year. This will bolster support to our lifesaving nutrition and health programming across Ethiopia, including Tigray.

The UK condemns the ongoing serious human rights violations by the Myanmar military regime. Nearly 20,000 people are arbitrarily detained in Myanmar - among them journalists, healthcare workers and political prisoners and over 25,000 have been arrested since the coup in February 2021. We have received reports of torture, sexual violence, ill treatment and fatalities in detention. We continue to call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including most recently in a UN General Assembly resolution co-sponsored by the UK and adopted on 15 November 2023.

The United Nations estimate that up to 9000 people have been killed in the conflict in Sudan since April. Over 4.8 million people have been internally displaced in Sudan and over 1.3 million have fled to Sudan.

Reliable information on casualties caused by the conflict in Tigray is very scarce. Armed violence is likely to have cased thousands of battlefield casualties. Calculating deaths attributable to displacement, hunger and illness is more challenging. This is due to the breakdown in medical and communications services in Tigray during the conflict, exacerbated by the negligible levels of humanitarian access all of which hampered information gathering and accurate reporting.

We are aware of the reports of widespread hunger and other challenging circumstances people face in camps in Tigray. We do not currently have further information on the specific reports of deaths in the Shire camp. Humanitarian partners in Ethiopia are closely following the situation of vulnerable people across Ethiopia and investigating allegations of risk to life as a result of gaps in food assistance. We continue to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people across Ethiopia, including in Tigray.

We do not hold sufficient evidence to comment on these reported attacks. The UK is closely monitoring developments. We are engaging partners, encouraging restraint from activity that could lead to further destabilisation or civilian loss of life. Security and stability in the region are necessary to prevent worsening of the already serious humanitarian situation in northern Syria and enable the Global Coalition and its partners to continue the fight against Daesh.

We are aware of the attacks in Kaduna state on 5 June. Increasing insecurity across Nigeria is having a devastating impact on affected communities. The UK Government condemns kidnappings across Nigeria, and calls for the release of those still held captive. We are in regular contact with the Kaduna State Government on instances of conflict and insecurity in the State, and continue to support dialogue and mediation activities in Kaduna, in partnership with the State Government. We also continue to urge and support the Nigerian Government to take action to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of violence, and we committed to work together to respond to rising insecurity in Nigeria at our Security and Defence Dialogue in February.

We are deeply concerned by recent airstrikes in northern Ethiopia. The Minister for Africa raised her concerns about this with Minister Redwan in Addis Ababa 20 January.

We call for a ceasefire by all sides, including the Ethiopian Government, to end hostilities. We support the call by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of all civilians, including refugees. The indiscriminate targeting of civilians, no matter the weapon used, is against international law, and is entirely unacceptable.

The Foreign Secretary, as Chair of the G7 Foreign and Development Minister's meeting, made a statement on 12 December 2021 that called for an additional independent investigation on human rights violations as recommended by the Joint Investigation report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. The UK supported the Human Rights Council resolution of 17 December that mandates an independent and transparent mechanism for investigation and redress of human rights violations. The UK will continue to support the UN in the need for independent, transparent and impartial investigations and will work to ensure that those responsible for these atrocities are held to account.

We are aware of reports that human rights activists and social media activists were among those detained during recent unrest in Kazakhstan and we are seeking further information from the authorities.

In recent meetings with the Special Representative of the President of Kazakhstan, the Deputy Foreign Minister and the Kazakh Ambassador to the UK, I underlined the importance of respect for international human rights obligations, including commitments to freedom of speech and expression. I also sought assurances that due process will be followed as those who were arrested are processed through the Kazakh judicial system.

We greatly regret the loss of life during the recent violent clashes. We are aware of figures from official sources that indicate that as many as 225 were killed in addition to 19 law enforcement officers. Many hundreds are reported to have been injured. We have urged the Kazakh authorities to make available further information, including numbers of casualties, as part of a thorough and transparent investigation into the causes and consequences of recent events.

The UK is concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Mali. 2021 is set to be the deadliest year in the past decade with violence continuing to spread towards the southern regions. Intercommunal conflict and activity by violent extremist organisations are responsible for civilian casualties, as well as driving displacement, increasing food insecurity, and leading to the widespread closure of schools. Through our deployment to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), our deployment of helicopters to the French counter-terrorism operation Barkhane, and our programmatic support for stabilisation and conflict resolution, the UK is committed to building long-term peace and stability in the Sahel. We also provide humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable in the region, including to those affected by conflict.