Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the establishment of an independent, international and impartial body to investigate violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Yemen.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation and alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen. The UK fully and actively supports the UN’s efforts to achieve a political solution to bring an end to the conflict. I discussed the importance of progress with President Hadi of Yemen on 25 November. This will help create the conditions for the legitimate Government to improve its capacity to protect human rights.
The UK has previously engaged the Yemeni Government – both bilaterally and through the UN Human Rights Council – on a wide range of human rights issues. We continue to raise the importance of compliance with international human rights law by all sides to the conflict. The UK welcomes the September UN Human Rights Council resolution which contains mechanisms for monitoring the human rights situation in Yemen.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been tasked to help Yemen investigate human rights abuses and violations, but it will be up to Yemen to decide on how it sets up its own domestic mechanism. The UK welcomes Yemen’s commitment to cooperate with the UN on the protection of human rights.
