Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the UK plans to take as a member of the UN Security Council to facilitate diplomatic negotiations on protecting civilians in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Protection of civilians in Syria, as well as those who have been forced to flee the country, is a priority for the UK. In the Security Council we have co-sponsored a number of humanitarian resolutions that call for an end of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including the use of barrel bombs, starvation as a method of warfare and obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid. Specifically, the UK played a key role in negotiating resolution 2191, which has allowed the UN and its partners to deliver aid across Syria’s borders to people who were previously denied access, including food for 2.1 million people and medical supplies for 2.5 million people.

The long term protection of civilians requires an end to the conflict in Syria and a political settlement. The International Syria Support Group in its communiqué of 14 November called on all parties to adhere to International Humanitarian Law and end immediately indiscriminate attacks on civilians.