Four important replies to Parliamentary Questions about Tigray
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL9061):
Question by Lord ALTON of Liverpool
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to establish a Donors’ Conference to coordinate efforts to (1) enable the physical reconstruction of Tigray and, (2) deepen peace building and the healing of the social fabric following the war. (HL9061)
Tabled on: 05 July 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
Since 2019, the UK has allocated more than £400 million in humanitarian support to Ethiopia. This funding is going towards varied humanitarian assistance, support to survivors of sexual violence and conflict, local peace building organisations and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. In May 2023 the UK co-chaired a pledging event for the Horn of Africa that raised around £1.9 billion for nearly 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. £42 million of this is additional support the UK has pledged for Ethiopia, which will be allocated according to need through trusted partners.
Date and time of answer: 20 Jul 2023 at 13:34
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL9060):
Question by Lord ALTON of Liverpool
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that transitional justice in Tigray leads to (1) the prosecution and conviction of those responsible for atrocity crimes in Tigray, and (2) the removal from the region of external forces which threaten the peace agreement. (HL9060)
Tabled on: 05 July 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
The UK is committed to human rights being respected and those responsible for human rights abuses and violations being held to account. We continue to support the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia. We are providing £4.5 million to help build the capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission through the UK’s Human Rights and Peacebuilding programme.
Date and time of answer: 20 Jul 2023 at 13:29.
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL9058):
Question by Lord ALTON of Liverpool
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that 700 people have died of hunger over a two-month period in the camp for internally displaced people at Shire, Western Tigray. (HL9058)
Tabled on: 05 July 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
We are aware of the reports of widespread hunger and other challenging circumstances people face in camps in Tigray. We do not currently have further information on the specific reports of deaths in the Shire camp. Humanitarian partners in Ethiopia are closely following the situation of vulnerable people across Ethiopia and investigating allegations of risk to life as a result of gaps in food assistance. We continue to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people across Ethiopia, including in Tigray.
Date and time of answer: 20 Jul 2023 at 13:23.
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL9059):
Question by Lord ALTON of Liverpool
To ask His Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of people who have died as a consequence of the war in Tigray as a result of (1) fatalities in the conflict, (2) displacement, and (3) illness and hunger caused by the conflict. (HL9059)
Tabled on: 05 July 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
Reliable information on casualties caused by the conflict in Tigray is very scarce. Armed violence is likely to have cased thousands of battlefield casualties. Calculating deaths attributable to displacement, hunger and illness is more challenging. This is due to the breakdown in medical and communications services in Tigray during the conflict, exacerbated by the negligible levels of humanitarian access all of which hampered information gathering and accurate reporting.
Date and time of answer: 20 Jul 2023 at 13:24.
