Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what investigative process the Government has to investigate alleged international humanitarian law violations involving the use of British equipment in the Syrian conflict.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK does not provide lethal assistance to any party in Syria. We have provided life-saving equipment, including communications, medical and logistics equipment, and equipment to protect against chemical weapons attacks to the moderate Syrian opposition.

The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Syria are compliant with the Consolidated EU and National Export Licensing Criteria and EU restrictions on the provision of goods to Syria. A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria. This includes where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used in the commission of a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application.