UN Security Council: Powers

(asked on 22nd September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 September (HL8043 and HL8044), what criteria they use to determine when genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes have been perpetrated to inform their decision not to veto any credible UN Security Council resolution in line with their commitments under the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group's Code of Conduct.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 5th October 2020

Indications of the existence of atrocity crimes, or the risk that they may be committed, will form part of Her Majesty's Government's overall assessment of a situation. In so doing, it will draw upon a variety of sources of information, including reporting by international organisations with particular expertise on these matters, such as the UN. It will be a matter for properly constituted courts to make legal determinations of whether atrocity crimes have taken place, using criteria defined by relevant international legal instruments such as the Genocide Convention and Rome Statute.

Reticulating Splines