Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, the acute human cost of current global conflicts provides the undeniable catalyst for today’s debate. The plight of civilians, particularly in the catastrophic situation of Gaza, is of profound concern. The Government are entirely right to use these regulations to expand our foreign policy toolkit. By making the intentional obstruction of life-saving humanitarian assistance and serious breaches of international humanitarian law explicit, sanctionable offences, they are creating a necessary legal lever to address atrocities worldwide.

Crucially, these powers are truly global. While the immediate focus of many is the Middle East, the updated framework allows the UK to target perpetrators across other devastating theatres of war. It strengthens our hand, as the Minister has already outlined. It is to penalise those orchestrating violence or blocking food and medicine in Sudan, for example, where we have recently seen severe human rights violations and the restrictions of aid.

The updated framework gives us an explicit legal baseline to act decisively in conflicts across Myanmar, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sahel region. Previously, punishing these acts required slow, country-specific geographic regimes. Today, we establish a unified global standard for accountability.

Furthermore, updating our powers to allow designations by descriptions rather than just by individual name provides the agility that is required in fast-moving conflicts. It ensures that the UK can act in immediate lockstep with international allies to deter actions that undermine humanitarian law—whether against violent settler networks in the West Bank or warlords in east Africa.

Procedural questions regarding delegated legislation and legal thresholds are fair matters for this House to scrutinise. However, technical caution must not paralyse urgent humanitarian leverage. Rather than regretting these regulations, our focus must be on efficient enforcement. Can the Minister confirm that the Foreign Office has the dedicated intelligence resources to rapidly monitor aid obstruction globally, ensuring that these powers are deployed effectively to protect vulnerable civilians in Gaza, Sudan and beyond?