Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, while UN Resolution 2664 provides crucial sanctions exemptions for humanitarian work, what steps they are taking to ensure that there are (1) legislative models, and (2) regulatory policies, in place so that case-by-case assessments can be made to protect humanitarian and aid work in jurisdictions that are sanctioned.
The UK was pleased to support UN Security Council Resolution 2664, which was implemented in UK domestic law in February, and we will continue to work to mitigate any unintended negative humanitarian impacts of sanctions.
The UK does not target food or medicines and UN and UK sanctions provide for a range of humanitarian exceptions and licensing grounds. The licensing bodies prioritise humanitarian licence applications to ensure case-by-case assessments of humanitarian activities can be made at pace and the UK also uses General Licences to respond to humanitarian crises, for example following the recent earthquakes in Syria.