Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Rejected
Paragraph: 46
The Government must introduce a cross-departmental strategy for preventing and responding to mass atrocities globally,...
Recommendation
The Government must introduce a cross-departmental strategy for preventing and responding to mass atrocities globally, both within and outside of conflicts. It must strive for greater consistency of purpose across Government. The strategy must: a) support development by considering prevention at all stages of the policy cycle, recognising that prevention must begin before judicial determinations, and should continue even if atrocities are committed; b) clarify training, tools and methods to prevent atrocities, including the role of the UK’s new sanctions regime; c) demonstrate and formalise how the UK will act in concert with like-minded international partners, particularly the United States; d) be inclusive to the many groups at risk of atrocities and recognise the wider circumstances that can drive discrimination and persecution, such as grievances, political marginalisation and criminal economies; e) prioritise the mitigation of atrocity risks across the whole of Government, including trade, supply chains, arms exports, education, asylum and border policy; f) take account of new threats and challenges, including new technology, climate change and the wide range of conflict actors; and g) build on the UK’s positive efforts to secure justice for Ukrainian victims and consider how these can be applied to other contexts.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government is committed to working in partnership with a diverse range of CSOs and local organizations to understand best practice approaches and specific country contexts, but cannot commit to producing an atrocity prevention strategy at this time.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
46
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government · verbatim extract
Rejected
16. The Government agrees with the importance of a comprehensive whole-of- government approach to mass atrocity prevention but cannot commit to developing a written strategy at this time. The Mass Atrocity Prevention Hub is directing resource towards implementation across a range of workstreams and working closely with geographic and thematic teams, and, where appropriate, across Government, to deliver and monitor progress on preventing atrocities. 17. We recognise that prevention must be considered at all stages of the policy cycle. We will continue to bolster monitoring capabilities to identify and escalate atrocity risks before they occur and work with partners on how we develop our approaches to take account of new threats and challenges, ensuring that we are aware and inclusive of groups at risk. 18. We will continue to work closely with international partners to prevent mass atrocities. This includes the United States, with whom we regularly exchange best practice, but we are also eager to build a wide range of partnerships. 19. On Ukraine, there is ongoing work to develop a more forward leaning workstream on accountability in support of the investigatory process. The Government has looked across current activity to identify where we could do more and has considered new ideas for future action.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗