Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will initiate a resolution of the UN Security Council related to whether genocide is being committed against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq.

James Duddridge

As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (David Cameron) has said, there is a very strong case for saying that the atrocities committed by Daesh amount to genocide, but recognition of genocide should be a matter for international courts, not political bodies.

When an attempt was made in 2014 to have the UN Security Council refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We have no reason to believe another referral would deliver a different outcome.