Yemen

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

Liverpool has a long-established and vibrant Yemeni community, dating back to the 19th century; originally they arrived as seamen and traders, and now an estimated 11,000 live in the city. Many of my constituents still have relatives back in Yemen and are very concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the increased number of civilian deaths since August and the forced deportations of Yemeni asylum seekers from the Brook House detention centre, with 10 asylum seekers scheduled to fly out on 1 October.

Yemen is a poor and underdeveloped country that has suffered four years of political crises, followed by five years of devastating war. Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The country has been left weak and vulnerable, both for its people and its infrastructure, with at least 80% of the population of 24 million now reliant on aid to survive. Yemen relies on imports for between 80% and 90% of its food, fuel and basic necessities. Some 10 million Yemenis face acute food shortages, while 7 million require treatment for malnutrition. Yemen is the world’s gravest humanitarian emergency, experiencing crisis on three fronts—conflict, covid-19 and famine.

A pause in the conflict broke down in January, after an attack in northern Yemen. Since that point, despite various initiatives, rounds of negotiations have failed to produce an agreement workable for all sides. In recent weeks, the conflict has escalated; August had more civilian deaths than any other month so far this year. A quarter of people who were killed or injured were killed or injured in their own home. Covid-19 has further exacerbated the crisis. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that there were more than 2,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Yemen and he warned that with the war having “decimated” the country’s health facilities, the need for a negotiated political settlement to end the conflict is more urgent now than ever. Covid-19 remains unchallenged, as widespread testing, tracing and treatment are non-existent.

The cholera outbreak continues to rage across Yemen. According to the World Health Organisation there were 1.3 million detected cases between January 2018 and June 2020. The level of immunisation against preventable diseases has fallen. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance reports that only 65% to 80% of children have received the DTP3—diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis—vaccination. The oral cholera vaccine was not widely distributed until 16 months after the outbreak began in 2016. Non-covid-19 illnesses or health conditions are going unmanaged. Based on reports on the ground and from international non-governmental organisations, there is a need for urgent action. Only half of all the hospitals and health centres remain operational, while in conflict-stricken, isolated or displaced communities services are non-existent. The remaining health centres are overcrowded and understaffed, and they face shortages of the basic essentials, medicines, personal protective equipment. There are electricity outages, and fuel supplies are sporadic and unreliable.

I have met Liverpool Friends of Yemen and Labour Friends of Yemen, and spoken to medical experts, who have expressed grave concerns about the Government’s intransigence in tackling the significant humanitarian and political crisis in Yemen. The UK is the pen holder on Yemen at the UN Security Council and plays an instrumental role in the continuous efforts to achieve long-lasting, sustainable peace. The UK has a moral responsibility towards Yemen, owing to its historical relationship. The UK is also a key member of the quartet tasked to look after Yemen—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. I am sorry but we have to move on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Patricia Gibson]

No, I want to make some progress: other people want to speak.

It really is putting profit and trade in death before due and proper consideration for the sanctity of the lives of the Yemeni people and the huge suffering that they have encountered. We have heard today of “heavy diplomatic engagement” by the UK Government, but the arms sales to Saudi undermine and indeed mock any efforts by the UK to pretend to be an honest broker.

Despite the legal and ethical considerations, we have heard today that since 2013 the UK has sold £5.4 billion-worth of arms to Saudi. Let us not forget that the country we are selling arms to is the same country that punishes its homosexual citizens with public whippings, beatings, vigilante attacks, chemical castrations, imprisonment— possibly for life—capital punishment and many other forms of torture. Why do we not take a much firmer line with a mediaeval regime like that in the first place, instead of selling it arms so that it can perpetrate its own forms of barbarism? It is a country based on sharia law where women are legally the property of their oldest male relative. Is it any wonder that Saudi has no respect for the human rights of the Yemeni people when that is how it treats its own civilians?

The Government’s trade and foreign policies are contradictory. They sell arms to that regime so that it can slaughter civilians, while trumpeting their subscription to the global human rights sanction regulations on selling instruments of torture to the Yemenis. It really is time for the UK to stop the warm words, which will not save the lives of the Yemeni people. It is time to stop selling arms to the blood-soaked regime in Saudi, stand up properly, in practical terms, against the slaughter of the Yemeni people, and play a less equivocal role in this conflict.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Front Bench speeches will start no later than 2.51 pm.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa (James Cleverly)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) for securing the debate and pay tribute to his work as chair of the APPG for Yemen. I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley (Mrs Drummond), who preceded him as Chair; I know that she is passionate about this issue because of a long-standing personal connection with Yemen.

I am grateful for the contributions of Members across the House. This is an important debate, and there have been many thoughtful speeches. I recognise the passion with which those contributions have been made, even if I do not always agree with all elements of them. I will attempt to cover as many of the points raised as possible, but Members will recognise that this is a significantly complicated environment.

The looming famine in Yemen, which a number of Members have raised, worries us in the UK greatly. The simple truth is that Yemen is closer to famine than at any point since the conflict began. The UN projects that, by the end of 2020, 1.2 million more people in the south of Yemen alone will be classified as severely food-insecure. The Government recognise that, which is why we have appointed senior official Nick Dyer to be our envoy for famine relief. I raised this issue when I met David Beasley of the World Food Programme earlier this month. The primary cause of this issue is the conflict and the additional pressure imposed by covid-19.

The situation in Yemen highlights why the co-ordination of our diplomatic and our development and aid work is so important. If we were able to bring peace to Yemen, we would be able to start the repair work on its economy, its ability to buy food, its health infrastructure and its ability to fight coronavirus. That is why it is so important that our aid effort goes hand in hand with our diplomatic effort.

The hon. Member for Caerphilly (Wayne David) rightly highlighted the real concern about the situation in and around Ma’rib. The Houthi offensive on that city could see people who are already suffering enormously and are already internally displaced suffer even more greatly. I will come on to talk about arms sales, but a number of Members have asked why we engage with Saudi Arabia on this issue. I ask Members from across the House to consider the imminent offensive by the Houthis towards Ma’rib. If the coalition were to disengage from this conflict, who would stop that? Who would protect the people of Ma’rib? That is why we work closely with Saudi Arabia.

We recognise the concerns about our arms sales policy. We have reviewed it in the light of the Court of Appeal decision, and all sales are measured against the revised set of criteria[Official Report, 28 September 2020, Vol. 681, c. 1MC.]. We are working to support Martin Griffiths in pursuing a nationwide ceasefire, and we welcomed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s unilateral ceasefire earlier this summer. What did we see in return for its ceasefire? We saw attacks by the Houthis, backed by Iran, into Saudi Arabia and within Yemen. Oh that it were so simple that we could just disengage from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the conflict in Yemen would cease. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the Safer oil tanker, which is of huge concern to us. It is estimated that a spill from the Safer oil tanker would be four times larger than the spill caused by the Exxon Valdez, and the environmental impact in the Red sea would be incalculable. He asked what we had done about the situation. We have called for a stand-alone session of the United Nations Security Council, and I regularly raise Safer in my engagement with parties in the region. I discussed it with the Yemeni Foreign Minister on 24 August, the Saudi ambassador on 5 August and the Saudi deputy Foreign Minister on 20 June. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised it at the high-level ministerial meeting on Yemen that he co-hosted on 17 September, and I have commissioned work to look into what the UK could do to secure it. The situation is terrible, and we are working hard to prevent the environmental catastrophe that would flow from it.

The hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) spoke about the role of women in the peace process, and she was absolutely right to do so. I am the Minister responsible for the women, peace and security agenda in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and we seek to make sure that all voices, particularly the voices of those who are most directly impacted by conflict—unfortunately, the simple truth is that that is women—play an increasing and important role. That was brought up during my virtual visit to Yemen.

A number of Members have asked about our engagement, and we engage regularly with parties. Several Members raised concern about the significant shortfall of £1.9 billion in aid. I am proud that the United Kingdom has maintained its position as one of the leading aid donors to Yemen. We have matched our earlier commitment levels, and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary recently announced additional expenditure that brings us up to £200 million. Not only that, but in our international relationships we have used the fact that we have stepped up to the plate on aid spending to encourage other countries to do so. I genuinely believe that that has played a part in Kuwait’s recent announcement of an extra $20 million contribution, and in Saudi Arabia’s agreement to disburse more of the money that it has already pledged.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) was right to raise the protection of religious freedom as a serious concern. We welcome the release of six detained Baha’is last month, but there is far more work to do. We will continue to work on these issues, including the release of Luke Symons.

This situation, unfortunately, is going to remain one of the most difficult on the agenda of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. We will not sit back and allow the people of Yemen to suffer without our doing everything we are able to do to help them. That is why we are seeking to get a ceasefire and supporting Martin Griffiths and the United Nations in their efforts to secure that ceasefire, and that is why we are maintaining our expenditure in aid and lobbying other countries to do so.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I would like to thank Mr Loughton, who waived the opportunity to respond to this debate in order that more Members of Parliament could speak.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the situation in Yemen.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. This is about the licence by this House to the BBC as to our proceedings, and what I believe to be a failure by the BBC under the House of Commons rules of coverage. It arose in respect of what I believe to be a less than full and accurate account on Radio 4 on Monday and Tuesday of exchanges on the controversial issue of UK breaches of international law, and those exchanges arose from an intervention I made on my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May). The matter relates to the specific question of UK breaches of international law, and I do not believe it was accurately reported. The matter is now with the House authorities and under investigation. I have complained to the BBC, which says it is editing; I disagree. I wish to put this matter on the record as part of my continuing complaint.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I thank Sir William for his forward notice of his point of order. While it is not a matter for the Chair, he has clearly taken all the right actions and he has put it on the record.

I intend to suspend the sitting briefly, as I did last Thursday, because a lot of Members want to take part in the next debate. Please would those leaving the Chamber do so in a socially aware way? Once both Dispatch Boxes have been sanitised and as soon as the main players are in place, which most of them are already, we will start again.