Tim Loughton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage Saudi Arabia and other parties to the conflict in Yemen to refrain from using explosive weapons with wide-range effects in populated areas in order to avoid high levels of civilian casualties.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen by all sides to the conflict and take these very seriously. This includes alleged airstrikes resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. We have received repeated assurances from the Saudi Arabian-led coalition that they are complying with International Humanitarian Law, and we continue to engage with them on those assurances. The Saudi Arabian authorities have their own internal procedures for investigations and we encourage them to be open and transparent in this. We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to adhere to International Humanitarian Law. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis. We will continue to do this.