Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the report by the International Crisis Group, Electoral Poker in DR Congo, published on 4 April, in respect of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK recognises the concerns outlined by the International Crisis Group (ICG) in its latest report and regularly raises the issue of tackling the root causes of conflict and insecurity that are driving the humanitarian crisis with the Government of DRC. Key to this is the holding of elections in December 2018. This is critical to a peaceful and democratic transfer of power, and longer-term peace and stability in DRC.
My colleague, the Minister for Africa, Harriet Baldwin visited the DRC last week, where she saw first-hand the impact of the conflict and insecurity upon the Congolese population. She announced a further contribution of £22 million to the humanitarian appeal for the DRC, bringing UK aid’s support to £227 million over 5 years (2017-2022).
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what inter-governmental deliberations are currently taking place regarding the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Answered by Lord Bates
International deliberations on the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen are being led by the UN. The UK welcomes the recent appointments of Martin Griffiths as the new UN Special Envoy to Yemen and Lise Grande as the new UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Yemen. The UK will continue to support their efforts to work with all parties to bring about peace and end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The UK is also playing a leading role in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. As the pen-holder on Yemen at the UN Security Council the UK proposed and coordinated a UN Security Council Presidential Statement adopted on 15 March, which called on all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, facilitate humanitarian access, and emphasised the need for an inclusive political solution. The UK will continue to press for a political solution to the conflict in the next Quad meeting between the UK, US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The UK is also taking a leading role in the Yemen Donor Coordination Group.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) bilaterally, and (2) internationally, to safeguard the children of the Kasai region of the Congo from dying from starvation; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the funds of the World Food Programme are adequate to support work in that region.
Answered by Lord Bates
My colleague, the Minister for Africa, Rory Stewart visited Kasai Central, in the DRC, in November 2017 to see for himself the impact of the conflict. 294,000 children are at risk of dying from malnutrition. UK bilateral aid is already supporting 25,800 children with lifesaving assistance. Over the next 5 years we will support a further 220,000 children under the age of 5 with vital nutrition. We support the World Food Programme (WFP) operated humanitarian air service ensuring that vital aid is delivered to those in need. However, the humanitarian appeal in DRC remains chronically underfunded. This needs an urgent international response and the UK Government is actively lobbying the international community to increase its response to this forgotten crisis.