Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ratify the 2019 amendment to Article 8 of the Rome Statute on the use of starvation in non-international conflicts.

The Government's position on these issues was set out most recently by Lord Collins of Highbury in response to a House of Lords debate on the use of starvation as a weapon of war held on 16 October 2025. [https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-10-16/debates/7404DF67-1A74-4DCD-8421-84BB55189F25/StarvationAsAWeaponOfWar].

In his response, Lord Collins referred to the publication in May of the Government's legal handbook on conflict, hunger and international law, further details of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/conflict-hunger-and-international-humanitarian-law-handbook-launch-lord-collins-speech.