The Bishop of Winchester has pressed the government on how it is supporting Christians in Sudan amid civil war.
Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen told the House of Lords that churches have been used as shelters, with both sides of the conflict having attacked religious buildings and their leaders.
Around 34 million people are in need of assistance in the face of malnutrition, disease and sexual violence, as a result of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Estimates on the number of people killed since April 2023 range from 150,000 to 400,000.
Lord Alton of Liverpool, a crossbench peer and Christian, secured an oral question in the Lords on Thursday about recent aerial bombardments in Sudan. He described the conflict as “world’s most deadly, catastrophic war”.
During the questions, Bishop Philip told the chamber: “Churches have been widely used as shelters over the course of the conflict in Sudan, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, from where the majority of Sudanese Christians originate. Attacks on places of worship and religious leaders have been widely documented, and both sides have used places of worship for military purposes.”
He asked the minister about the government’s assessment “on the situation of freedom of religion in Sudan” and about what was being done to “ensure that urgent humanitarian assistance is also reaching vulnerable and historically marginalised religious communities, including in the Nuba Mountains”.
Responding for the Foreign Office, Lord Wood of Anfield agreed that the targeting of churches and impacts on freedom of worship were important considerations.
He added that a “guiding principle” of aid being sent to Sudan, totalling £146m, was that it is being distributed by local responders “including religious organisations”.
There are around 2.2 million Christians in Sudan, making up 4% of its population, according to Open Doors. The persecution watchdog lists the country as fourth on its 2026 World Watch List for the use of Islamic law to justify forced conversion and physical punishment, the displacement of Christians through churches being bombed or taken over as military bases, and the weaponisation of sexual violence against Christian women and girls.