Written question asked by Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party) on Monday, 12 December 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 14 December 2022. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Friday, 30 December 2022 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Somalia: al Shabaab

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Somalian counterpart on the protection of (a) civilians and (b) human rights during the Somali military offensive against al-Shabaab.

Answer: The UK is a major security partner of Somalia, working with international partners to counter al-Shabaab, build capacity of Somali forces and support the transition to Somali-led security. The UK has trained 1,771 Somalis in 2022. We cannot yet give figures for 2023. Protection of human rights is central to our security engagement and interventions, including through engagement with the Somali Government, as well as incorporating human rights language into UN resolutions in our role as penholder and mandating pre-deployment human rights training for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and Somali security forces personnel. The UK also advocates at all levels of Government that military planning for security operations against Al-Shabaab should look to minimise humanitarian impacts and that all security actors should respect International Humanitarian Law which includes the protection of civilians. This approach aligns with the recently published UK humanitarian framework.

Secondary information