Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will deploy the RAF to provide humanitarian support to the people of Syria through the use of air drops.

Penny Mordaunt

The UN, the Red Cross Movement and Non-Governmental Organisation partners have the mandate and expertise to deliver an appropriate response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Any UK response would work to the same principles by which the UN operates. We would not use air drops when there is ground access particularly in the circumstances of western Syria, where there are no assurances about the safety of delivering humanitarian assistance by air. Nor would the UK undermine humanitarian agencies by providing duplicate aid through air drops, in the absence of full coordination with all agencies on the ground.