IRC response to UK government's review of foreign policy and defence priorities

February 26, 2020 —  Responding to the government's announcement of a review of the UK’s foreign policy and defence priorities, Marcus Skinner, Senior Policy Adviser on Civilian Protection at the International Rescue Committee said:

“As the government seeks to review Britain’s role in the post-Brexit landscape it is absolutely vital that it maintains its commitment to defend international humanitarian law, and promote the protection of civilians, conflict resolution and humanitarian access to those in fragile and conflict affected states.

The tragedy unfolding in Idlib is the latest example of the Age of Impunity we are living in; a time when war crimes go unpunished and the laws of war become optional.  As European leaders prepare to meet with Presidents Putin and Erdogan later this week to call for a ceasefire in Idlib, the absence of the UK’s voice in talks is a worrying development and undermines lofty rhetoric about ‘Global Britain’.

This review is an opportunity for the Foreign Office to reassert that the protection of innocent civilians caught up in the cross-fire of global conflicts, as its primary foreign objective. Without a clear message to this effect, we will find ourselves on the side lines of world affairs.”