Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the humanitarian situation in Yemen of the US designation of the Houthis as a terror organisation.

On 5 February, the US announced that they will reverse the previous administration's designation of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. We welcome this decision and have engaged closely with the US administration on this matter, sharing our concerns that designation would seriously disrupt humanitarian operations in Yemen.

However, we cannot ignore Houthi actions. These include the use of children and sexual violence as tools of war, the persecution of religious minorities and attacks on civilians. On 30 December, the Houthi attack on Aden airport killed 27 civilians and injured over 100 others. We must address the Houthi sense of impunity to make progress of the peace process.