Genocide prevention could become legal priority for UK government | Foreign policy

Clearer legal obligations on the British government to prevent genocides, and to determine if one is occurring rather than leaving such judgments to international courts, are to be considered by a cross-party group of lawyers, politicians and academics under the chairmanship of Helena Kennedy.

The new group, known as the standing group on atrocity crimes, says its genesis does not derive from a specific conflict such as Gaza or Xinjiang, but a wider concern that such crime is spreading as international law loses its purchase.

The move will also be seen as part of a wider drive to push back against those trying to downgrade the status of international law in the UK, often using criticism of the attorney general, Richard Hermer, as a lever.

The aim is also to encourage the government to…