Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 21 November 2017 to Question 53422, on Islamic State: war crimes, what evidence has been gathered and preserved by the UN.

Investigative and prosecutorial work is already underway across the world to bring Daesh to justice. The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to bring Daesh to justice, securing a UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR 2379) which will establish an Investigative Team to collect, preserve and store evidence of Daesh crimes, beginning in Iraq. The UK has committed £1m to the establishment of this team.

In Syria, UK Conflict, Security and Stabilisation funding is supporting the investigation, and collection of evidence, of sexual and gender-based violence. We are also supporting and have funded (£200,000) the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) which has been established to prepare evidence for future prosecutions. In Iraq, the UK is supporting projects to document and preserve evidence of gender based violence.