Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Written Statement of 5 September 2016, Yemen Update, HCWS 128, whether the Government plans to raise (a) alleged breaches of international humanitarian law, (b) allegations that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions and (c) the need for other countries to increase humanitarian funding at the UN General Assembly meeting on Yemen to be hosted by the UK in September 2016.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK will host discussions on Yemen at the UN General Assembly later this month with key international partners. We have raised the use of cluster munitions with the Saudi Arabian authorities and, in line with our obligations on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, we continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it. We regularly raise the importance of compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the Saudi Arabian Government and other members of the military Coalition. We have raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL.