Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Deferred
Paragraph: 53
FCDO must revisit previous report to improve the OCSM atrocity prevention hub.
Conclusion
In its previous report, this Committee welcomed the Government’s introduction of the Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM) with a hub to consider atrocity prevention. However, it seems that this hub has not met its promise. The FCDO should revisit our previous report and look at how to improve the hub, 20 Humanitarian situation in Gaza because it should be forming a central part of the Government’s response in Gaza and it appears not to have the resource to give the leadership across Whitehall that is required.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response focuses on the importance of protecting healthcare workers and facilities in Gaza and ensuring effective deconfliction, entirely sidestepping the recommendation to improve the OCSM hub for atrocity prevention.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
53
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
27. The UK Government is grateful to the Committee for the insightful recommendations it made in its previous report, From Srebrenica to a safer tomorrow: Preventing future mass atrocities around the world. The Mass Atrocity Prevention (MAP) Hub is taking forward many of those recommendations. For example, the Hub works with international and civil society partners to share best practice and identify coordination opportunities, has assessed the needs of FCDO staff to enhance the atrocity prevention training offer, and has integrated atrocity risk analysis into global horizon scanning and early warning capabilities. We continually seek feedback to identify ways to improve how the Hub works across HMG. 28. We do not agree that the Hub does not have the required resource and leadership to fulfil its role. The Hub was established as a centralised support function to provide geographic teams with expert advice, datasets, and policy resources to raise understanding of atrocity risks and avenues to address them. Geographic teams rightly lead on making and implementing country-specific policies. We judge this partnership approach is the best way to ensure policy coherence between atrocity prevention and context-specific expertise. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, the MAP Hub has proactively supported relevant FCDO teams working on the conflict to understand, monitor and address atrocity risks. Lessons learned from atrocity prevention efforts in other contexts have also contributed to this advice. Conclusion/
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