Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 39
2nd Report - The write to protect: Britain’s pen on the world stage
Published 21 Sep 2025
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The UK at the United Nations Security Council All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the UK take the following actions as soon as possible: a. Pursue all efforts possible to intensify its diplomatic efforts and pass a United Nations Security Council resolution which calls for an immediate end to fighting in Sudan and upholds the protection of civilians. b. The Government should outline in its response how it plans to enforce deterrents including sanctions against individuals and entities who violate United Nations Security Council resolutions on Sudan. c. As penholder for the Women, Peace and Security file, the UK must do all it can to ensure that mediation efforts involve Sudanese women and women-led civil society organisations. This includes support for 52 accessing healthcare, including supporting organisations involved in assisting women who are victims of gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence. d. Engage the Sudanese diaspora in the UK, who have been instrumental in highlighting the devastating impact of this war, to inform the Government’s Sudan policy. (Recommendation, Paragraph 126)
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, 2nd Report - The write to protect: Britain’s pen on the world stage (HC 930), 21 September 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 December 2025 (deadline 21 November 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government marks most recommendations "Agree", "Partially agree" on some, and "Disagree" on three, including co-penholding and mandated Myanmar reporting.
- On co-penholding (Recommendation 10) it says "Disagree", stating that "co-penning is not appropriate for every agenda item" and it does not agree the UK should take a "one size fits all" approach.
- On ODA (Recommendation 7) it "Partially agree"s. It remains committed to restoring 0.7% of GNI "as soon as the fiscal circumstances allow", but says it is "not possible" to commit to ringfencing any future spend.
- On Myanmar (Recommendation 15) it says "Disagree". It recognises the call for mandated, more regular reporting but says there is "not yet the requisite support across the UN Security Council", including among the permanent members.
- On Somalia (Recommendation 18) it "Partially agree"s and says a new "joint fund" mechanism "would likely encounter similar challenges". It announced £16.5 million to AUSSOM.