Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Rejected
Establish an independent central repository of evidence for IHL breaches against aid workers.
Recommendation
We recommend that the FCDO works with international partners to establish an independent central repository of evidence of breaches of IHL relating to the delivery of aid and attacks on aid workers. For this to be successful, the Government should undertake a consultation exercise with international and local delivery organisations, as well as UN bodies and legal experts. (Recommendation, Paragraph 45) 51
Government response summary AI-generated
The government partially agrees with the intent but rejects leading the establishment of a new standalone central repository for evidence of IHL breaches. It prioritizes supporting existing mechanisms, such as UN and IIIM mechanisms, to prevent duplication of efforts.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government · verbatim extract
Rejected
54. We agree that reliable data is key to informing the UK and other states’ action to promote IHL compliance by others. However, the UK view is that ODA is better spent supporting existing mechanisms, than establishing new databases that are unlikely to succeed and/or may undermine existing mechanisms that are already trusted and used by a range of actors. 55. As already noted, assessing IHL compliance from the outside is extremely difficult and requires detailed information relating to the specific incidents in question that is unlikely to be readily available to a third party. 56. Relevant existing mechanisms include the Aid Worker Security Database which tracks incidents of harm to aid workers across the globe, and to which the FCDO provided urgent funding in 2025. The ICRC, another FCDO partner, hosts “IHL in action: Respect for the law on the battlefield” which is a database of real case-studies documenting compliance with IHL in modern warfare. The ICRC established the database with a view to encourage the reporting, collection and promotion of instances of respect for IHL.
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