Speeches by Cooper.

“I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s incredibly important question. This is exactly why in November, at the Human Rights Council, the UK led on a resolution to establish a fact-finding mission into El Fasher. Teams have been sent to pursue and gather exactly that kind of evidence, and we are expecting their fact-finding repo…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that question, because sexual violence in conflict has too often been ignored, and it has been too easy to turn away from the women and children who are victims of these truly horrendous crimes. We are determined to ensure that that is not the case. I also visited, in both Ethiopia and Chad, …”

“The hon. Lady is right to raise these issues. We held an event with a group of Foreign Ministers and ambassadors from a range of countries neighbouring Sudan at which we discussed the economics of the conflict and the dangers of allowing a vile conflict to take such deep root over an extended period of time that too ma…”

“I completely agree with the right hon. Gentleman about civilian engagement. I assure him that we plan for civilian voices to be heard in the discussions at the UN Security Council, where I strongly believe we need to hear the voices of Sudanese women, and as part of the Berlin conference. He asks about the African Unio…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. I have heard the most disturbing stories about the impact on children. Mums describe how their children just stay in their tents, even though they have reached the relative safety of the camp, because they are terrified to go out because of everything that has happened to them. We have also…”

“I wish to update the House on the situation in Sudan. On Tuesday night, I returned from the border between Sudan and Chad, where I witnessed from the camp of 140,000 people in Adré—85% of them women and children who have fled the most horrendous violence and violations—the devastating human toll of the world’s worst hu…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It was 25 years ago when the UK led the drawing-up of the resolution on women, peace and security at the United Nations. Since then, successive Governments have highlighted the issue of violence against women and girls. I want to ensure that that is at the heart of our foreign po…”

“My hon. Friend is right to refer to the truly horrendous crime of rape against children. Rape that takes place against young girls and boys causes deep trauma not just at the time when the crime is committed, but for many, many years afterwards. That is why we want to support the work that I have seen being done on a v…”

“I welcome my right hon. Friend’s points and pay tribute to the bravery of Sudanese civilians, especially those who continue to run the emergency response rooms, providing urgently needed support for desperate people in Sudan. She is right that civilian capacity has to be a central part of the peace process. In fact, me…”

“The hon. Member is exactly right to raise the risk of destabilisation. The impact is not just on the Blue Nile area, which he referred to; we have seen soldiers being killed in Chad as a result of incursions over the border. Many of the Foreign Ministers I spoke to, including the Ethiopian and South Sudanese Foreign Mi…”

“I welcome the shadow Foreign Secretary’s words on Sudan. It is the worst humanitarian crisis in the 21st century, and the whole House should be united in wanting it to end. She asked about the work being done through the Quad, and the work led by the US. I am in close contact with the US special envoy, Massad Boulos, a…”

“My hon. Friend is right that this must be treated as an international issue. I have discussed this matter directly at the G7, which includes France, Germany and Italy, and I have spoken about it directly with the French Foreign Minister. We are planning to use the Berlin conference as an opportunity to involve many oth…”

“The energy that we have had on Gaza and the work that took place last summer are really important. They have helped to achieve a ceasefire that is still fragile, but a ceasefire nevertheless, and a peace process that is moving forward. We need that same urgency and intensity on Sudan. This needs to be global; we need t…”

“The simple answer that I can give to the hon. Gentleman is: yes, I will. We will continue to look at the issue of sanctions and what more we can do, and we will certainly continue to engage not just with the House, but with anybody and everybody who has evidence that can support that process.”

“My hon. Friend is right, and we will continue to maintain the pressure because there has to be access. There must also be continuing support, which is why, in the run-up to the Berlin conference, we will discuss how we can ensure that there is also funding for the humanitarian support that is needed. One of the issues …”

“All I can tell the hon. Member is that we believe a whole range of countries have been involved in the arms flows in some way—whether it is in their manufacture and sale, in purchasing and financing or in transit routes. We continue to raise this matter in all our international engagements. I am particularly concerned …”

“My hon. Friend is exactly right to say that, because we cannot look away. I fear that it has been too easy for the international community and for people across the world to look away—in particular to look away from the plight of women and girls and the way in which rape has been used as a weapon of war. That is why we…”

“We are engaging directly with a range of civilian groups and seeking to provide support and bring them together. We are working with Norway to do that. This work is still at an early stage. Although we have kept in close contact with civilian groups throughout this process, we are now seeking, alongside the work of the…”

“My hon. Friend is right. External countries and actors are fuelling the conflict through the support that they are providing to the warring parties, and that has to end. The reason why the warring parties are refusing to accept what everybody knows to be the case—that there is no military solution to this war—is that t…”

“I thank the hon. Member for her commitment to reaching peace in Sudan and her comments on the horrendous nature of the crisis. The sanctions that we have now issued bring us broadly in line with the EU. The US has gone further, so we are continuing to look at the issues. We are seeking to link our sanctions to the evid…”