Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government plans to request that the UN Security Council refer crimes by Daesh to the International Criminal Court.

Mr Philip Hammond

The Rome statute provides for "situations" rather than organisations such as Daesh to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

When efforts were made to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We expect that any Security Council resolution at this time seeking to refer the situations in Iraq or Syria to the ICC would likewise be blocked.

In the meantime, we are supporting the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed.