Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department records acts of alleged genocide by Daesh reported by refugees who are provided with humanitarian aid by his Department to support future criminal investigations.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not received such allegations from refugees. However, the UK is supporting evidence gathering by a range of state and non state actors for potential prosecutions. In Syria, the UK is funding the work of non-governmental organisations who are gathering evidence of Human Rights violations, including by Daesh and the Asad regime. In Iraq, we are supporting the victims of sexual violence and considering how we might best complement other evidence gathering efforts already underway. Working with international partners, we are doing everything we can to assist in the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used by judicial bodies to make a judgement on this matter.