THE UK Government has been urged to put protection of civilians in conflict zones ahead of profiting from arms sales.
Chris Law, who leads for the SNP on international development, has written to International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, urging her to quickly and transparently update the country’s strategy for the protection of civilians caught up in armed conflict.
It comes just days after a Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen struck a school bus, killing at least 29 children.
In his letter, Law welcomed the announcement by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Karen Pierce, that the government was to update its national strategy on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.
The strategy, a collaboration between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence, was published in 2010 and focuses on four key areas: political engagement, peace support operations, humanitarian action and building state capacity.
Law said: “Civilians, many of them children, caught up in conflict zones suffer unimaginable scars and trauma due to their surroundings – both physical and psychological. The announcement to update the UK’s 2010 strategy for protecting civilians in those regions is welcome, but it must be conducted with the utmost transparency and urgency, as the threat of conflict grows around the world.
“That is why I have written to the International Development Secretary seeking an approach which brings together organisations for a constructive and effective strategy, as well as a clear timeline for implementing its conclusions.
“Just last week, we witnessed the horrific attack by the Saudi- led forces on a bus carrying schoolchildren, as well as the Israeli airstrike killing a pregnant woman and her 18-month-old baby. No child should ever have to witness such harrowing incidents.
“The UK has a key role to play, but that must be focused on conflict resolution. Unless the UK Government shifts its efforts away from profiting from arms sales that fuel these conflicts, then we risk the reality that the violence will leave the next generation struggling to rebuild peaceful societies.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK is at the forefront in supporting the vital ongoing work needed to protect the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children affected by conflict worldwide.
“Our work across government and with the international community is central to preventing, managing and resolving conflict, and improving the humanitarian system.
“This strategy sets out the actions the UK Government sees as necessary to help protect people in armed conflict.”
Dozens of students were returning from a summer camp on Wednesday when their bus driver pulled over briefly in Yemen’s Saada province.
According to the International Red Cross, at least 50 people were killed in the air strike and 77 were wounded, at least 30 of them children.
Colonel Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the attack in Saada was targeting rebels.
He insisted it was a “legitimate military action” and was “in accordance with international humanitarian law and customs”.
He also accused Houthi rebels of recruiting children and using them in the battlefields to cover for their actions.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Saudi actions.
His spokesman said: “The Secretary-General calls on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the fundamental rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. The Secretary-General emphasises that all parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations.”
The attack came a week after a Saudi-led airstrike hit a busy fish market and the entrance to the country’s largest hospital, Al-Thawra, in the port city of Hodeidah.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Gulf states against Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war.
The Saudi-led coalition has been repeatedly accused by rights groups of unlawful airstrikes on civilian targets.
Riyadh insists it tries to to avoid civilian casualties, though a UN panel of experts that reviewed 10 Saudi airstrikes reported in January that “even if the Saudi Arabia-led coalition had targeted legitimate military objectives … it is highly unlikely that the principles of international humanitarian law of proportionality and precautions in attack were respected.”
The war in Yemen is now the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
More than 22 million people, around three-quarters of the country’s population, are now in desperate need of aid and protection.
Government statistics show that UK has licensed £4.7 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia.
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