The Gulf (Hansard, 18 February 1991)

§ Mr. Marlow
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what policy objectives with regard to the Gulf war have been discussed with or agreed with Israel.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
Our objectives are those of the United Nations Security Council; to eject Iraqi forces entirely from Kuwait; to restore the legitimate Government of Kuwait; and to restore international peace and stability to the region. We believe the Israelis share them.

§ Mr. Marlow
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the considerations underlying the policy of deferring steps to resolve the Arab-Israeli dispute until the conclusion of the conflict in the Gulf.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
The Iraqi occupation of Kuwait has created a situation in which it is not realistic to expect progress on Arab-Israel. We regret this. But it is the fault of Saddam Hussein, who has gravely damaged the Palestinian cause. We shall return to this problem with renewed vigour as soon as Iraq has left Kuwait.

§ Mr. Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the economic effects on less-developed countries of the Gulf war.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development to the hon. Member for Bristol, South (Ms. Primarolo) on 3 December 1990 at coloumn18. The assessment is still complicated by uncertainty over the future level of oil prices, which have fallen significantly in recent weeks.

§ Mr. Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action Her Majesty's Government are taking to ensure humanitarian needs within Iraq can be met by international agencies.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
As I informed the House on 8 February, we have been in close contact for several months with the United Nations humanitarian agencies and with the International Committee of the Red Cross about contingency planning for the Gulf crisis.
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The United Nations Disaster Relief Organisation has co-ordinated contingency plans fsor dealing with refugees and displaced persons from Kuwait and Iraq with the other relief organisations. We have pledged some £3 million to this and the International Committee of the Red Cross's appeals, further to the £11 million pledged bilaterally and through the European Community last year.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has sent two consignments of medicines to Baghdad. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF are sending further medical supplies.
It is for the United Nations Sanctions Committee to determine whether a humanitarian case for food supplies for Iraq (and Kuwait) exists. So far the sanctions committee has been unable to take a position due to the lack of an independent assessment.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further information he has about atrocities committed by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
Recent information from inside Kuwait shows that the Iraqis continue to carry out a regime of arrests and tortures similar to that graphically described in the Amnesty International reports of October and December last year. Kuwaiti and foreign residents, including women and children, are being tortured and executed for offences such as carrying opposition literature or refusing to display portraits of Saddam Hussein. Recently reports have been received of an incident involving the hanging of a number of women.