Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 17 November 2025.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Chargé d’Affaires to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Conflict-related Food Insecurity.

Famine in the 21st century is not a natural disaster – it is a man-made tragedy. The evidence is clear: nearly 300 million people face acute food insecurity, most in countries affected by conflict. Across Sudan, Gaza, the Sahel, Yemen and Myanmar, conflict has devastated harvests, shattered supply chains, and uprooted families from the land they depend on.

I will make three points.

First, the Security Council has a responsibility to address conflict, to prevent escalation, and to support efforts towards inclusive and sustainable peace. We have the tools.

Resolutions 2417 and 2573 are unequivocal: starvation as a weapon of war and attacks on civilian infrastructure are unacceptable. We urge all Member States to strengthen monitoring, reporting, and accountability for violations, and to uphold their obligations under these resolutions.

Second, international humanitarian law must be upheld. The United Kingdom calls on all parties to conflict to comply fully with international humanitarian law and allow rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access. When aid is blocked or delayed, it is the most vulnerable who suffer first – families are cut off from food and children face acute malnutrition.

In April, the UK launched the Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law Handbook, offering practical guidance to minimise food insecurity during conflict.

Third, we must act to prevent hunger wherever it occurs. Conflict breeds hunger, but hunger can also fuel instability and further conflict. The UK’s Resilience and Adaptation Fund, alongside our humanitarian financing, is supporting longer term solutions in fragile and conflict-affected states – building local systems that protect people, markets, and livelihoods in the face of climatic and other shocks.

We are investing in climate resilient agriculture, supporting local food systems, and championing the participation of women and youth in building resilient communities.

The UK remains committed to supporting food security and tackling conflict-driven hunger. We are the largest bilateral donor to the Food and Agriculture Organization and, this year alone, contributed over $540 million to the World Food Programme for critical interventions including in Palestine and Sudan.

The UK will continue to press for sustained humanitarian access and invest in resilience – so that conflict does not condemn communities to hunger. We all must use the tools at our disposal to break this cycle.

The press release issued by the 14 November 2025.

UK explanation of vote delivered by Jennifer MacNaughtan, UK Minister Counsellor, at the UN Security Council meeting on Abyei.

The United Kingdom voted in favour of renewing UNISFA’s mandate, and we thank the United States for their efforts on the text.

I will make two points.

First, UNISFA remains essential to maintaining stability and protecting civilians in Abyei. 

We urge the Sudanese and the South Sudanese authorities to take steps in line with this resolution for the benefit of peace and security.

As this resolution makes clear, any decisions on UNISFA’s future must be informed by a thorough assessment of the implications for the protection of civilians.

Second, addressing the drivers of conflict in Abyei requires sustained attention to the impacts of climate change and related challenges, while ensuring that the specific needs of women and girls are met, including through an inclusive peace process.

In Abyei, these are not abstract concepts. 

As such, we regret the removal of provisions in this regard.

The United Kingdom will continue to work with all Council members to support UNISFA in delivering effectively for the people of Abyei.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 November 2025.

Statement by Jennifer MacNaughtan, UK Minister Counsellor, at the Security Council meeting on working methods.

Thank you to our briefers: we all collectively benefit from your exceptional institutional knowledge and continued close following of the Council’s evolving working methods.

 Let me also thank Denmark and Pakistan for your joint stewardship of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions. 

Underlining the United Kingdom’s approach to working methods is our desire for an action-oriented Security Council that is able to build consensus and reach compromises through constructive and informed debate.

The United Kingdom welcomes today’s open debate, as an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to the full implementation of Note 507, which underwent a significant update under Japan’s leadership of the Informal Working Group last year. 

At that time, we were pleased to work with Council members to make amendments to enhance the Security Council’s transparency and accountability, whilst still preserving the important principle of confidentiality, including in areas such as access to historic documentation.

We are committed to responsible and effective penholding, taking into account views of countries concerned and of the region, including in both bilateral discussions and through their participation in relevant Council meetings under Rule 37, and we remain resolute in seeking to build consensus across this Council. 

This includes – where appropriate and mutually agreeable – co-penning products as we have done for example, with the African members of the Council on Libya and Sudan. 

We note the impact the delay in agreeing subsidiary body chairs this year has had on Committee work, and look forward to working with all current and incoming Council members to come to agreement on a package for 2026 to give incoming Chairs sufficient time to prepare.

 As members of the Security Council, we all have a stake in preserving its integrity and upholding its mandate to maintain international peace and security. To that end, the United Kingdom remains committed to working with everyone around this table to continually review the Council’s working methods, in a collective effort to strengthen its effectiveness and efficiency.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 November 2025.

UK Introductory Statement for the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Sudan. Delivered by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and UN, Kumar Iyer.

Thank you, Mr President.

I deliver this statement on behalf of the Sudan Core Group consisting of Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

We requested this Special Session because the scale and severity of the crisis in Sudan can no longer be met with silence.

The situation in El Fasher is the latest example of a broader collapse. A collapse of rule of law, protection of civilians, and human dignity.

As we have heard from so many speakers today, what we are witnessing is not just a humanitarian emergency, but a systematic assault on civilians, with consequences that extend far beyond Sudan’s borders.

The violence in El Fasher bears the hallmarks of a coordinated campaign against civilians by the Rapid Support Forces. Their advance has been accompanied by credible reports of ethnically targeted killings, systematic sexual violence, and the deliberate use of starvation.

Across Sudan, over 30 million people now require humanitarian assistance. And yet, access to aid is obstructed, and those who try to help are themselves at risk, as we have seen with the appalling targeting of health workers in El Fasher. The scale of need is staggering, but the response has been inadequate.

This Council must not look away. I would hope we can all agree on the need for accountability as well as the end goal of reconciliation. We need an independent account of the past to achieve both these goals. There is no other independent mechanism to achieve that goal.

The key outcome of this resolution is the urgent inquiry to be carried out by the UN Fact-Finding Mission. Its efforts to document and preserve evidence of violations and abuses lay the groundwork for justice. Without it, accountability will remain out of reach, and the cycle of impunity will continue.

We also pay tribute to the Sudanese civil society actors who continue to serve their communities under extraordinary pressure. Their courage and resilience are a reminder of the values this Council is meant to uphold.

Mr President,

The strongest tribute that we can all make to their courage is by adopting today’s resolution by consensus.

Let us send a clear signal that the people of Sudan are not forgotten.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 November 2025.

National Statement for the Special Session on Sudan. Delivered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington, Minister for International Development and Africa.

Mr President,

We are appalled by the violence and specific targeting of civilians in the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces. The reporting is horrific: ethnically motivated killings, executions, starvation and rape as a weapon of war.

These are not isolated incidents. Ongoing impunity, and reticence from the international community means the conflict in Sudan is now the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century.

Civilians are experiencing famine and famine-like conditions across Sudan. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces continue to obstruct assistance from reaching the over 30 million people who are in need.

The UK has announced an additional £5 million in humanitarian support, bringing our total this year to £125 million.

But aid is not enough. The guns must fall silent. We need a renewed push for peace, a ceasefire backed by global cooperation through the Quad and the UN.

Mr President, there must be accountability and that is not possible without facts. The Fact-Finding Mission is pivotal to establishing the facts surrounding the crimes committed in El Fasher, in order for perpetrators to be held to account.

I urge this Council to show the Sudanese people that they are not forgotten.

Thank you.