Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help tackle (a) requirements that ban women from travelling without male authorisation and (b) other barriers to humanitarian access in Yemen.

Yemen is a human rights priority country for the UK. We call upon all parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. We are discussing with international partners the potential for a mechanism to support human rights accountability, including women's rights, in Yemen. We continue to work with donors, the UN and NGOs to lobby for the lifting of worsening access restrictions to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those who need it most in Yemen. If access restrictions are not lifted, the international community, UN agencies and NGOs, will be forced to take further measures to better protect aid delivery, including recalibrating humanitarian assistance and further reducing certain operations.