Speeches

Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-12-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reliability of assurances from the government of Saudi Arabia that it is complying with international humanitarian law in the conflict in Yemen, in the light of Saudi Arabia’s history regarding its obligations under international law.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of reports on alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition and take these very seriously. We have regularly raised with Saudi Arabia the need to comply with international humanitarian law in Yemen, and continue to engage with them on this. We have offered advice and training to demonstrate best practice and to help ensure continued compliance with international humanitarian law. The Ministry of Defence monitors alleged international humanitarian law violations, using available information, which in turn informs our overall assessment of international humanitarian law compliance in Yemen. We consider a range of evidence from government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations.