To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to support a full, independent UN-led inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by all sides in the Yemeni conflict.
Answered on
4 October 2019
The UK takes alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) extremely seriously. Whenever the UK receives reports of alleged violations of IHL, we routinely seek information from all credible sources, including from Non-Governmental Organisations and international organisations.
The Government is not opposing calls for international independent investigation, but foremost, we believe the Coalition should investigate alleged breaches of IHL attributed to them. They have best insight into their own military procedures and this allows them to really understand what went wrong and apply the lessons learnt in the best possible way. The UK regularly raises the importance of IHL and of conducting thorough and conclusive investigations into alleged violations with Saudi Arabia, including at senior levels.