Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Foreign Secretary has taken to ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access to civilians in Yemen.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to improve humanitarian access in Yemen. We call on all parties to immediately end restrictions on aid agencies and comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2451 by allowing safe, rapid, and unhindered access for the humanitarian response.
The Foreign Secretary raised this issue on 1 July in a joint article with the Foreign Ministers of Germany and Sweden, highlighting the need for obstacles to the delivery of aid to be removed.
We welcome recent steps taken by the Houthis to improve humanitarian access but are clear that more progress is needed or humanitarian organisations will be unable to continue delivering vital assistance.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what urgent steps they intend to take with their international partners to try to avert the risk of catastrophic human suffering in Yemen.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK is extremely concerned by the devastating humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which remains the largest in the world. This situation is now being compounded by the rapid spread of COVID-19, with UK-funded modelling estimating that Yemen has already had over 1 million infections.
In response, we are promptly disbursing funding from our new £160 million commitment for this financial year (2020/21), to help the UN tackle the spread of COVID-19 in Yemen and address the humanitarian crisis. We have already disbursed 32% of this funding and expect to have disbursed over 50% by the end of July.
We are encouraging other international donors to urgently provide funding to the UN humanitarian response, ahead of Yemen’s expected COVID-19 peak in late July. We are also engaging with Yemeni authorities to encourage them to implement measures to suppress infection, allow access for international staff and COVID-19 supplies and protect the health system.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they have provided for the International Organisation for Migration and International Committee of the Red Cross operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the influx of migrants into the country since 2016.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is a long-standing supporter of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), reflecting our shared commitment to ensuring that UK aid reaches the most marginalised. Across 2016 and 2017, the UK contributed in excess of £100m to IOM and £300m to the ICRC in support of their work with those affected by humanitarian crises. It is not possible to disaggregate the amount of this funding utilised in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2016.
The Department for International Development has also committed to provide IOM with an annual contribution of £6m, and ICRC with £63m core unearmarked funding (up to 2021). This funding will enable both IOM and the ICRC to continue their critical work with some of the world’s most vulnerable, as well as ambitious system-wide improvements to deliver the greatest possible impact for those most in need.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what elements of the Department for International Development's Safety, Support and Solutions Programme for Refugees and Migrants in Europe and the Mediterranean have been focused on supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina in managing the impact of migration affecting the country since 2016.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID’s Safety, Support and Solution programme has not included funding to support Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of the United States following the announcement that the US government will no longer fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency; and whether they intend to continue to provide funding to that Agency.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK remains unequivocally committed to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The US has consistently been UNRWA’s single largest donor. When the US announced their intention to withhold a planned disbursement to UNRWA in January, we were sympathetic to their concerns over the need for a broader donor base for UNRWA, but made clear to them that we did not consider a sudden cut in planned funding was the right way to address this. My officials and I continue to raise this with our US counterparts.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of refugees who will be affected by the decision of the government of the United States to withdraw funding for the UN Relief Works Agency; and what specific services and aid they expect will be affected.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides essential services to over 5 million Palestinian refugees across the region. My officials are working closely with UNRWA, the United States and other European Union partners to understand risks to UNRWA’s sustainability and how to maintain continuity of key services such as education and health for Palestinian refugees. The UK is concerned at the impact on UNRWA’s activities whenever unexpected reductions or delays in predicted donor disbursements occur and are liaising with UNRWA on their plans for service continuity. UNRWA has publically stated their determination to continue services in all their fields of operations.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are proposing to other UN Relief Works Agency donors to meet the shortfall in funding for the agency in the light of the decision of the government of the United States to reduce its support.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK has engaged in the recent UNRWA Advisory Commission meetings which include the US, all main donors and host Governments to discuss UNRWA’s continuity of services. The UK has so far provided around £50 million in 2017/18, based on the Agency meeting rigorous performance indicators, and is one of the largest donors to UNRWA. We contributed more than expected for this financial year to help manage UNRWA’s funding gap in December.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the humanitarian impact of the Saudi-led blockade of Yemen; whether they are supporting the actions of the coalition in Yemen; and if so, what form that support takes.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is deeply concerned by the serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen. Even before the Saudi-led Coalition recently announced the temporary closure of all sea, land and air routes into Yemen, the country was the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The Coalition has since announced the reopening of ports and airports in areas controlled by the Government of Yemen, but these remain closed in areas not under government control - where 71% of Yemenis in severe humanitarian need live.
While the UK remains committed to supporting Saudi Arabia to address its legitimate security needs, it is absolutely vital that Yemen is kept open to humanitarian access and commercial supplies and personnel, upon which the Yemeni population depend. We are raising the importance of these points at the highest levels.
The UK continues to play a leading role in lobbying all sides to find a peaceful solution. As the pen-holder on Yemen at the UN Security Council the UK proposed and coordinated a UN Security Council Presidential Statement in June calling for an end to the conflict and the resumption of peace talks. The UK has since been pushing for a revived political process.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the $6 billion of humanitarian aid pledged at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference in February has been disbursed.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Syria Conference raised a record amount of more than $12 billion - the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. $6billion was pledged for 2016 and a further $6.1billion for 2017-20 to enable partners to plan ahead. According to the UN, as of 26 August, $4.8 billion has been committed by donors to implementing partners for humanitarian assistance in 2016.
The UK continues to urge donors to deliver on the commitments made in London including at the forthcoming UN General Assembly in New York, where the Secretary of State for International Development will co-host a Conference follow-up event. The Department for International Development has set up a tracking mechanism that will report on the delivery of all the financial commitments made at the conference, including humanitarian and development funding and loans. The first report from the tracking mechanism will be published in September.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made since the Supporting Syria and the Region conference in February in implementing loans by multilateral development banks and bilateral donors to help vulnerable Syrians and host communities in the Middle East.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Syria Conference raised a record amount of more than $12 billion - the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. This was supported by Multilateral Development Banks and donors’ pledges of around $41 billion loans, including $1.7 billion on highly concessional terms.
The World Bank launched the MENA Finance Initiative to support Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon at the Spring Meetings in April. Donors pledged $140 million in grants and over $1 billion in concessional loans. Grant pledges have since increased to $225 million.
As part of this initiative, the UK is providing an £80 million concessional loan to the World Bank MENA Finance Facility to support employment opportunities for Syrian refugees in Jordan. In July, a successful first meeting of the Steering Committee saw two Jordan projects approved.
The UK continues to urge donors to deliver on the commitments made at the London Conference in London. The Department for International Development has set up a tracking mechanism that will report on the delivery of the financial commitments made at the London Conference, including humanitarian and development funding and loans. The first report from the tracking mechanism will be published in September.