To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Sugg on 2 November
(HL Deb, cols 495–9), what assessment they have made of the judgment delivered by
the International Court of Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro
(no. 91) on 26 February 2007, in particular the statement contained in that judgment
that "a State’s obligation to prevent, and the corresponding duty to act, arise at
the instant that the State learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence
of a serious risk that genocide will be committed"; what assessment they have made
of the risk of genocide in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; and what steps they are taking
in response to that assessment.
<p>The UK takes its moral and legal obligations seriously, and is fully committed
to focusing on conflict prevention as the best means to prevent most mass atrocities.
HMG adopts a consolidated, whole-of-government effort, using our diplomatic, development,
defence and law enforcement capabilities, to help find pathways to global peace and
stability. The policy of the UK is that any determination on whether genocide has
occurred is a matter for competent judicial bodies, rather than for governments. The
UK is fully committed to the principle that there must be no impunity for the most
serious international crimes. The UK welcomes the news that the leaders of Armenia
and Azerbaijan have agreed to end the fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.</p>
