The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent comments by European Council President Donald Tusk that Russian military action in Syria is increasing the number of refugees to Europe; and what assessment they have made of the impact of the US-led coalition’s military action on the number of Syrian refugees.

Baroness Verma

We continue to closely monitor the humanitarian impact of Russian airstrikes in Syria. We are particularly concerned at UN reports that Russian-backed regime offensives have caused the displacement of at least 140,000 people in Aleppo, Hama, and Idlib governorates since 5 October. We are currently not aware that the flow of refugees has increased as a result of Russian military action. However with displacement on such a scale we cannot rule out that it will have an impact on refugee flows.

Unlike the Assad regime and its allies, who are bombing indiscriminately, Coalition military efforts in both Iraq and Syria are specifically designed to minimise civilian casualties in line with International Humanitarian Law.

We continue to call upon all parties to the conflict to uphold International Humanitarian Law and protect civilians.