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The Guardian World1 min read
Foreign Office unit tracking Israel’s potential breaches of international law closed
TL;DR
The Foreign Office unit monitoring Israel's potential breaches of international law has been closed due to departmental cuts. This decision follows a recent review and ends funding for a key conflict monitoring project.
Key points
- Foreign Office unit tracking Israel's breaches of international law closed
- Closure due to budget cuts within the department
- Ends funding for Conflict and Security Monitoring Project
- Unit's work included monitoring incidents in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon
- Decision follows a review by Olly Robbins
Mentioned in this story
Foreign OfficeOlly RobbinsYvette CooperCentre for Information ResilienceIsraelPalestineLebanon
The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed because of cuts within the department, the Guardian can reveal.
The decision to shut the international humanitarian law cell follows a review by Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office dismissed last week by the prime minister over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
The unit’s closure comes only a fortnight after the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said respect and support for international law would be one of the linchpins of her department under her leadership in her major annual set piece foreign policy speech.
The decision also means funding for the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project run by the Centre for information Resilience (CIR) will end. The centre had been doing a range of work for the Foreign Office including the world’s largest open source monitoring of incidents across Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.
It is the only programme in the UK that collects, verifies and analyses human rights and conflict incidents in Israel and the occupied territories.
The closure of the IHL cell is coming as part of a cut in funding to the conflict and atrocity prevention team, work that has been critical in sending out warnings to the Foreign Office of potential atrocities including in Sudan.
Officials have been warned the closure of the Conflict and Security Monitoring project will mean the Foreign Office will lose access to a database of 26,000 verified incidents in the Middle East.
The database holds information on incidents stretching back to 7 October 2023, the day Hamas fighters launched the surprise mass attack on Israel which killed 1,200 mainly civilians, and led to the abduction of 200 Israelis. It is thought to be the largest in the world and is used to monitor trends and make analyses possible.
The database is also used to help Foreign Office teams decide whether arms export control licences to Israel should remain suspended, and helps officials conclude whether international humanitarian law concerns such as proportionality are being breached.
It is understood the head of the war crimes team in the counter-terrorism unit urged the FCDO to understand how important the work of the CIR was in helping the consider war crimes allegations.
Q&A
Why was the Foreign Office unit monitoring Israel closed?
The unit was closed due to budget cuts within the Foreign Office.
What impact does the closure of the unit have on international law monitoring?
The closure ends funding for the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project, which was the UK's only program collecting and analyzing human rights incidents in the region.
Who announced the closure of the Foreign Office unit?
The decision to close the unit was revealed following a review by Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office.
What was the significance of the unit's work in Israel and Palestine?
The unit was crucial for monitoring and analyzing human rights and conflict incidents in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon, providing vital data for international law assessments.
