Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason the Government decided not to sign the joint statement on the human rights situation in Yemen that was issued by 37 countries on 29 October 2021.

Yemen remains a human rights priority country for the UK and we have used our role as penholder at the UN Security Council to help push the Yemen peace process forward and end the conflict. We share the regret expressed in the statement that the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen was not renewed. The UK voted in favour of renewal and spoke in support of the resolution during the voting. As we made clear during the Human Rights Council session of 7 October, we are concerned by reports of serious and wide-ranging human rights violations and abuses by parties to the conflict. The Group had a crucial role to play in providing ongoing reporting on the actions of parties. The UK will continue to urge the parties involved to investigate these allegations and take action to promote and protect human rights.