Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all sides in the conflict in Yemen maintain acceptable humanitarian and human rights standards.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are aware of reports of alleged violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and abuses of human rights in Yemen, committed by all parties to the conflict – and take them very seriously. We have raised our concerns with the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition, and have received repeated assurances that they are complying with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances. We are also concerned by reports of alleged IHL violations by Houthi-Saleh forces, including attacks on civilians in Aden and Taiz; intimidation of UN ships attempting to dock at Aden; the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes; the use of child soldiers; and the targeting of aid workers and restrictions on humanitarian access. We have raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL.