Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am extremely concerned about the current situation in Yemen, particularly as the humanitarian crisis continues to deteriorate. The war has entered into its third year, the political process has stalled and the fighting is having devastating consequences for civilians. Yemen is also facing the world's fastest-growing cholera epidemic. EU Foreign Ministers last discussed the situation in Yemen at the Foreign Affairs Council in April. The Council called on all parties to start negotiating a peace agreement and committed to increasing its engagement with Yemen when a political solution to the conflict has been agreed.

The EU is the largest humanitarian donor to Yemen and has provided over €170 million in aid since the conflict began. Ireland contributes to this via the EU development budget. We have also contributed over €10 million in humanitarian assistance from our aid programme since 2015. Ireland takes the issue of humanitarian access extremely seriously. The closure of land, air and sea ports earlier this month following a missile attack on Riyadh was an alarming development, especially given the impact on humanitarian aid. When my officials met officials from the Saudi Embassy in Dublin last week, they relayed my request that all parties to the conflict should do everything possible to facilitate the delivery of aid. There have also been EU contacts with Saudi Arabia on this issue.

I note the announcement by Saudi Arabia that it intends to allow the reopening of some ports and border crossings. This must proceed urgently. Yemen has no resilience to the suspension of humanitarian assistance, as locally held supplies are extremely limited. I will continue to monitor the situation closely. I repeat my call on all parties to the conflict to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to those who need it. The conflict in Yemen has led to grave concerns about human rights. Ireland has worked in the UN system to try to address this. At the UN Human Rights Council in September, I decided that Ireland should join a small core group of countries that were driving forward the adoption of a resolution on Yemen. This resolution establishes a group of international experts who will establish the facts about violations of human rights and humanitarian law on the ground. This group will report back to the UN Human Rights Council as an important step towards accountability in Yemen.

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