Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what operational orders are given to the armed forces serving in Yemen on the protection of cultural property.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is not a member of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition and British military personnel are not directly involved in the Saudi led Coalition’s operations. We remain concerned about any damage to cultural property in Yemen and are aware of reports of alleged damage by actors in the conflict. Yemen and many members of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict and to the 1972 World Heritage Convention. We have raised our concerns regarding protection of cultural property with both the Government of Yemen and the Saudi Arabia.