Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL421):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of allegations reported in the Europe External Africa Report on Tigray, published on 19 May, that killings, abductions, and rape are still occurring in Tigray, and that soldiers “are raping and destroying women to ensure that they cannot raise a community in the future. They are using rape and food as weapons of war.” (HL421)
Tabled on: 20 May 2021
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
The UK has led calls on the parties to the Tigray conflict to place the survival and welfare of the affected people above political and military goals. We are deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict on food security and nutrition in Tigray, including reports of people dying from hunger. We have raised the points with the Government in Addis Ababa consistently and at the highest levels, most recently during the visit of the Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs from 19-25 May. To date the UK has provided £22 million of badly needed support to people in Tigray.
Date and time of answer: 07 Jun 2021 at 13:02.
