Oral Answers to Questions

Liz McInnes Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Harriett Baldwin]

As the right hon. Gentleman says, there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Earlier this year I authorised work by us, through UNICEF, to provide immediate humanitarian assistance. More than 400,000 people have been displaced in the crisis, and more than 30,000 have fled to Nigeria. DFID is doing programming work, and we are urging the Cameroon Government to allow humanitarian actors access to all parts of the country.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

Last week, Human Rights Watch said:

“Government forces in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have killed scores of civilians…and torched hundreds of homes over the past six months.”

How many more innocent victims need to be slaughtered for Cameroon to be suspended by the Commonwealth?

[Harriett Baldwin]

The hon. Lady is right: there have been human rights abuses and human rights violations on all sides in the conflict. Hospitals have been burnt and villages torched. We drew attention to a range of issues in a statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which the UK sponsored. Obviously the UK is a member of the Commonwealth, and our Commonwealth Minister has written to the Commonwealth Secretariat suggesting that it encourage discussions on this topic in future meetings.