Humanitarian Aid: Tikrit

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement by the United Nations that 28,000 civilians have been displaced from the city of Tikrit by the actions of Islamic State, what plans they have to increase the provision of humanitarian aid to the conflict area.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)]

My Lords, to date the United Kingdom has committed £39.5 million to the crisis in Iraq. The Government of Iraq, supported by the United Nations, are leading the humanitarian response for displaced civilians from Tikrit and have scaled up their operations accordingly. DfID staff in-country, in close communication with their international partners, are monitoring the situation closely.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

I thank the Minister for his reply and for all that the Government are already doing, which is very commendable. Having said that, I believe that some of our humanitarian responses to other armed conflicts have shown that sometimes the response has been too little, too late. As the UN is estimating that there could be as many as 1.5 million people displaced by the battles for the liberation of Tikrit and Mosul, what discussions are Her Majesty’s Government having with our allies so we can get a step change and get preparations put in place for what looks like a very deeply worrying humanitarian crisis about to happen in front of our eyes?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for his kind comments. An interagency needs assessment has already started—it started yesterday—being led by the UN. Initial estimates suggest that up to 4,000 newly displaced families are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The United Nations, through Lise Grande, the co-ordinator for Iraq, has fast-tracked a strategic response plan, which is committed to $150 million-worth of aid. We are hoping for continued discussions in the fringes of the World Bank meeting in April, once there is a clearer assessment of what the needs are.