Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

4. What recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

Eighty per cent. of Yemen’s population are in need of humanitarian aid, and 7.6 million people face severe food shortages. Some 320,000 children under the age of five are severely malnourished, there are 2.5 million displaced people, and there were 8,000 civilian casualties last year. Yemen must be one of the least eligible places to be.

[Mr Robertson]

I thank the Minister for setting out the worrying situation in Yemen. There are other problem areas of the world, such as Syria, but Yemen is one of the world’s hidden problems. What can the Government do to enable NGOs to at least get food aid and clean water into Yemen to those who are so desperately in need?

[Mr Swayne]

We started by doubling our aid last year, and last week the Secretary of State announced that that aid would increase by a further £10 million to £85 million. In September, she led a side event at the UN General Assembly, at which she secured from other donors a further £85 million. We are working on the UN verification and inspection mechanism to ensure that more food and shipping get into Yemen.

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

That additional aid is welcome, but at the same time we are supplying arms to one side in the conflict. Is it time that this country supported an international, independent inquiry into concerns about the abuses of international humanitarian law, and in the meantime suspended all arms sales to Saudi Arabia?

[Mr Swayne]

We have supported the UN Human Rights Council resolution that requires the Government of Yemen to investigate those matters, with the support of the UN.

[Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)]

Is DFID’s good work in Yemen being undermined by UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia?

[Mr Swayne]

What undermines UK aid, and what makes that aid ever more necessary yet harder to deliver, is the violent and unlawful removal of the Government of Yemen. Only a peace process to restore that will end the suffering.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

If we are concerned about arms exports to Saudi Arabia, which fuel the conflict in Yemen, why are the Government not pressing ahead with setting up the cross-party quadripartite committee on arms exports, so that Parliament can control that better?

[Mr Swayne]

As the Prime Minister pointed out, we have the most stringent and robust arms export regulations in the world. We have supported the UN Human Rights Council resolution, and we are committed to the investigation of every abuse or abrogation of international law.

[Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)]

The Minister will be aware that Saferworld, Oxfam, UNICEF, and Save the Children take the position that DFID’s work in Yemen is being undermined by UK arms sales. How can the Minister continue to insist that a UK-replenished Saudi arsenal being dropped on Yemen is not an impediment to development?

[Mr Swayne]

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant), the undermining of our ability to deliver aid is a consequence of warfare. That warfare arises because of the violent removal of the lawful Government of Yemen, not because we have sold arms to the Saudis.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

5. What steps she is taking to promote female economic empowerment in the poorest countries.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Ochil and South Perthshire) (SNP)]

6. What support her Department has given to organisations investigating alleged breaches of human rights and international law in Yemen.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

DFID funds a number of organisations in Yemen to deliver aid, some of which have reported alleged breaches of human rights and international law.

[Ms Ahmed-Sheikh]

The Government have so far approved £5,600 million of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which several independent reports have connected to the bombing of civilian targets in Yemen. Given that figure and the independent reports, does the Minister believe that £75 million of aid delivered by the UK Government to Yemen represents a balanced approach to the conflict?

[Mr Swayne]

Actually, it is £85 million—£85 million of life-saving aid. Warfare makes it more difficult to deliver that aid and that warfare is a consequence of the violent removal of the lawful Government of Yemen—not anything the United Kingdom has done.

[Sir Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

May I invite the Minister to reiterate that point? The greatest breach of international law in Yemen has been the removal of a legitimate Government by force. Although it is very, very easy to focus only on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and blame it, it is that initial use of force which has caused this problem and must be seen in the context of the solutions we now want to see around the negotiating table.

[Mr Swayne]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I pay tribute to his work as the Prime Minister’s special representative, and to the enormous amount he has done to bring peace and prosperity to Yemen.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.