Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

ICC: Government Support

Tuesday 21 November 2023 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The UK is one of the major funders of the International Criminal Court and provides practical support including sentence enforcement and pro bono expertise.
  • The UK provides additional support to the ICC this year, following a meeting between the UK Minister and the ICC prosecutor in June.
  • The UK is the second largest donor to the ICC after Germany.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Neale Hanvey
Foreign Affairs
Context

The question addresses the financial and practical support provided by the UK government to the International Criminal Court for its war crime investigations.

Question

What additional (a) financial and (b) practical support the Government plans to provide the International Criminal Court for its war crime investigations.

Answer from Alex Chalk

The UK is one of the major funders of the International Criminal Court, and provides further practical support including sentence enforcement, pro bono expertise in victim and witness protection, and secondments. In June, I met with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan KC, and I will remain in contact with the ICC to discuss what resources it needs to operate effectively.

Answered
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Q2 Neale Hanvey
Foreign Affairs
Context

The supplementary question concerns the guarantee that the UK government will not intervene against any future ICC investigation into war crimes, referring to previous actions alongside the United States.

Question

It should go without saying that the International Criminal Court needs to be able to do its work unimpeded if it is to establish when collateral damage transcends into deliberate slaughter, or whether self-defence was in fact collective punishment. Will the Government provide a guarantee from the Dispatch Box that they will not intervene—as they did alongside the United States in 2021—against any future ICC investigation into war crimes perpetrated against the people of Gaza?

Answer from Alex Chalk

The hon. Gentleman's original question was about the resource that we provide to the ICC. We are the second largest donor after Germany, and we have provided some additional support this year. Questions about prosecution are matters for independent prosecutors. It is not for Ministers in this Parliament to make that sort of decision: that will be a matter for independent prosecutors, whom I would expect to exercise their discretion freely and fairly.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The government's past or future interference with ICC investigations.

How: Questions About Prosecution Are Matters For Independent Prosecutors.

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