Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the UK did not support a draft UN resolution calling for an international inquiry into human rights abuses by all parties in the Yemen conflict.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

A Resolution on the Human Rights situation in Yemen was agreed at the last session of the Human Rights Council on 2 October. The UK’s priority was to secure cross-regional agreement on a text that would strengthen human rights in Yemen as we urge all parties to find a solution to the crisis. The Human Rights Council does not have a mandate to call for investigations in to International Humanitarian Law. The consensual UN resolution agreed has tasked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to help Yemen investigate human rights abuses and violations. The UK supports the UN resolution as it reflects the current human rights situation and makes constructive recommendations to strengthen human rights in Yemen.