Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance his Department provides for members of the Yemeni community in the UK to contact or find out information on relatives in Yemen affected by the civil war in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

For the past four years Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Travel Advice has consistently advised against all travel to Yemen. We recommend that British nationals in Yemen leave immediately. In addition to ongoing fighting, there remains a very high threat of kidnap and unlawful detention from militia groups, armed tribes, criminals and terrorists. The operations of our Embassy in Sana’a have been suspended since February 2015, which makes it difficult to provide any assistance in country. The FCO would not usually be responsible for facilitating contact between family members in a conflict, but as far as we are aware telephone communication is still possible in some areas.