Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department took to protect (a) all civilians and (b) children in Mosul before the coalition forces’ attack on that city began.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK has made clear to the Government of Iraq in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government the importance the UK attaches to protecting civilians, including children, in the offensive to liberate Mosul from Daesh. I last highlighted this to Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Kurdistan Region Minister of Foreign Relations Falah Mustafa during a meeting in London on 12 October.
We have received assurances from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani that all allegations of human rights abuses and violations will be investigated and those responsible held to account.
In addition, the UK has announced an extra £40 million of humanitarian funding to Iraq on 21 September, taking our total commitment to £90 million this financial year and £169.5 million since June 2014. This new assistance will be targeted specifically to enable a scale up of humanitarian assistance during the Mosul operation, helping to support efforts to protect civilians, including children.
