Atrocity Crimes

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, I begin as everybody else has done, by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool. I know he does not need this, but I will just say how much I respect and value his contributions in this House generally; tonight we heard a particularly powerful speech from him.

By contributing in this way, the noble Lord manages to keep raising the issues of atrocity prevention, genocide determination, and the atrocities that too often we see happening around the world. He brings them to us and makes sure that they are never, ever to be ignored, and that we cannot turn away. I really do thank him for doing that. I did not know he had written a book; I will find myself a copy and make sure that I read it.

I am very grateful for the discussions we have had, not just tonight but in recent months, particularly on Sudan but on many other areas as well. This has to be among the most sobering and serious of subjects that we discuss in this House: the very worst of atrocities that humans commit against each other. I thank everyone for their contributions, although I say to the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, that I do not think everybody sees things in exactly the same way when it comes to the role our ODA programmes play; we can come on to that.

I have to begin, as the noble Earl, Lord Courtown, did, with an alarming acknowledgement that across the globe, conflict is reaching record levels, and with it so too is abhorrent violence. The noble Earl asked me if I can verify reports of the numbers coming from Iran. I am afraid I cannot do that this evening, but I am sure that we will be bringing information to the House as soon as possible, as he would want us to do.

I think people across the country are completely horrified at the accounts we are starting to hear from Iran, as well as from Sudan, certainly Gaza, from Ukraine for sure, and the from eastern DRC. We can all list these dreadful contexts. The regularity with which we are hearing such stories can leave the public, as well as us in this House, at a loss as to what we can do. Therefore, it is with a great deal of humility that I set out the UK Government’s position on this. I have met the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, to discuss the specific issue of genocide determination and universal jurisdiction. The situation I am going to lay out is the situation as it is today. That does not mean that there cannot be movement in the future. We take on board the challenge that comes on this critical issue—this is not something that can never change.

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, last week, we had a discussion on aid programmes and the decision to cut our official development assistance, which we did because we wanted to spend more on hard power. That was a conscious choice we felt that we needed to make in the context that we find ourselves in. The events of recent days may lead some people to think that that was the right decision. I point out that most ODA spend is not the humanitarian assistance that he may remember as a Minister and which he described this evening. The vast majority of the humanitarian work that we do is done through multilaterals. We are the largest contributor to Gavi and we are a considerable contributor to the Global Fund and to the World Bank’s IDA programme. We are the biggest contributor to the African Development Fund, which is an African-led organisation. It leverages in far more than any programme or ODA budget that we would ever have been able to provide for Africa. We are dramatically changing how we do this. Perhaps I could organise a briefing for the noble Lord to explain this in more depth. Exchanges like this are helpful but I doubt that I would ever be able to persuade him through this mechanism, so a more detailed conversation might be worthwhile.

Identifying the risks of atrocities early, as the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, and others have said, is essential to prevention. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester raised the importance of working on democratic structures and strengthening civil society organisations. I absolutely agree with him on that. Respectfully, I disagree slightly, in that he said that we privilege our economic connections ahead of all other considerations. I do not think that is true. The sanctions that we implement and the positions that we have taken around Ukraine very much do not bear that out. However, I take the point he makes in the spirit that he makes it.

The UK monitors risks around the world. We assess a range of factors, including ongoing armed conflict, a history of unaddressed human rights violations, and, as the right reverend Prelate said, inadequate state structures. Too often, it is states that are responsible for atrocities, but sometimes it is armed groups, such as in Haiti, which was mentioned, and Sudan and Colombia. We fund work with an exceptional organisation, Geneva Call, which attempts to work with these groups. We focus on countries and regions where the risks are most concerning and where the warning signs of imminent violence are strongest. We target UK action where we can help prevent horrific atrocities, including genocide and crimes against humanity, working alongside civil society, academic experts, bilateral partners and multilateral organisations.

I completely share the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, about the persecution of Christians. However, I assure him that we do not give money to the Taliban. We fund some programming in Afghanistan. It is incredibly limited, because it is a difficult place to operate, but it is humanitarian work around finding ways to fund and make possible the education of girls. We do that with partners on the ground and through the World Service, which has done some amazing, inspiring work that enables that to be possible. Noble Lords should not think that just because money is being spent in a particular geography that it is given to the Government of that country. That is very often not the case.

There are a number of tools that we use. At the forefront are our joined-up assessments of conflict and stability across countries and regions. That is a process that we updated in 2024. Noble Lords have expressed a desire to have those assessments shared with Parliament. We can all appreciate why that might not always be what happens, but I commit to taking that back and re-challenging ourselves on whether we can hold up that decision. I think that is a fair question to ask the Government.

The approach that we have draws together a vast pool of insight and expertise to identify the actors and drivers of conflict and guide our interventions to promote stability, security and peace in the long term. We have our global network of embassies. They play an important role in many aspects of this. An example I would use is our team in Kyiv, supported by specialist technical advisers and analysts.

The noble Baroness, Lady Helic, explained really well the work that is done to help identify and assess risk and then support efforts to keep civilians safe amid ongoing attacks on civilians. She explained how this could have been done in Rwanda. I visited the genocide museum in Rwanda recently, and I recognise what she was saying. Because of time, if she does not mind, I will write to her on the specific issues around Bosnia, partly because I do not know off the top of my head the answers to all her questions, but they are issues that need to be responded to.

It is important that as a founding member and chair of the conference of participants of the register of damage, we hold Russia accountable for its crimes in Ukraine and work alongside fellow signatories to the convention to establish an international claims commission. We worked with the US and the EU to establish the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, co-ordinating support for the office of the prosecutor-general of Ukraine, and we back efforts—I know the House is concerned about this—to identify the tens of thousands of boys and girls snatched from their families, deported and indoctrinated by Russia in a revolting attempt to erase the future of an entire nation, and help to bring them home, with over £2.8 million committed to that important work. I know that colleagues across both Houses are helping to do all we can to raise awareness of this.

We are strengthening our own systems. On the issue of FCDO 2030, several noble Lords asked about the staffing reductions at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I support the process being undertaken because the truth is that, compared with 10 years ago, even taking into account the merger of the two departments, there are 30% more people working there than before. We really have to challenge ourselves about whether that is the most efficient and dynamic way to run that organisation. We will be making changes, but I can commit to noble Lords that on the assertion that there will be less emphasis, skill and resource put into the work on atrocity prevention, conflict prevention and related issues, the hub is being taken into a wider team—so, in fact, there will be more people working on this important issue.

In response to questions from the noble Lord, Lord Rook, about the review—he specifically asked about recommendation 7—we will continue to develop our capacity to respond to atrocity risks, drawing on expertise across government and beyond, including from civil society, academia, co-operation with bilateral partners and multilateral organisations. We remain committed to this, and we will continue to do the work that is needed. Through the FCDO’s transformation plan between now and 2030, we will be updating how we work because we have to be more agile and more focused on impact.

Finally, I want to just underline the Government’s commitment to this. We will be strengthening our ability to identify risks at the earliest stage possible, deploying our global network of diplomatic and technical expertise and supporting efforts to save lives, uphold international law and break the cycle of violence that drives displacement and instability in the long term. The UK has an important role to play. We will continue to work alongside our international partners because we must do all we can to prevent atrocities wherever we can.