Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 34
34
Paragraph: 64
The Government should implement additional early warning tools specifically focused on predicting mass atrocities, and...
Recommendation
The Government should implement additional early warning tools specifically focused on predicting mass atrocities, and mainstream non-conflict atrocity prevention 30 Never Again: The UK’s Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond thinking in the newly announced Conflict Centre. The Conflict Centre should be renamed to the Conflict and Atrocity Prevention Centre, to ensure atrocity prevention thinking is prioritised in its operations.
Paragraph Reference:
64
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We agree on the importance of drawing on early warning tools to help to predict mass atrocities. Several international mechanisms already exist: the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other regional organisations have their own systems. The UK is able to draw on these mechanisms, and receives regular updates from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which the UK helps to fund. The UK also has regular meetings with the UN’s Special Advisers on Genocide Prevention and R2P and likeminded countries to share our analysis of atrocity risks. The FCDO is currently exploring how we can better use data and technology to improve our understanding of emerging stability risks and strengthen early warning systems, including in fragile and conflict affected states. Geographic departments can commission a Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability from the FCDO’s conflict centre. These can be an effective tool to highlight atrocity risks and identify specific preventive action. There is also a wide range of material in the public domain that we draw on to inform our assessment of atrocity risks. Such material is shared with relevant geographic teams, including copies of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Early Warning Project. The focus of the FCDO’s new conflict centre will be on developing a more integrated UK approach to conflict and instability. This includes harnessing conflict expertise from across government and deploying our capabilities where we can make the most difference. It will identify and develop capabilities where the UK has a comparative advantage, and work closely with international partners to increase our impact. Further details of the FCDO’s conflict centre will be announced in due course.