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<p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question
in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with
the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Under the Geneva Conventions, States
Parties must enact legislation to provide effective penal sanctions for those that
commit, or order to be committed, grave breaches of the Conventions. States Parties
must also search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed,
grave breaches of the Conventions, and ensure that they may be prosecuted before their
courts, regardless of their nationality, or extradited, as appropriate. For the UK,
the domestic criminal framework has been in place since the Geneva Conventions Act
1957. The UK works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross and in
particular with the British Red Cross to promote compliance with the Geneva Conventions
and International Humanitarian Law (IHL).</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">When
there are allegations of violations of the Geneva Conventions around the world, we
have actively influenced decisions in the international arena to take action against
perpetrators and to hold them to account. Our leading role in establishing and supporting
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia are examples where grave breaches of the Conventions were
proven and persons held accountable. The UK also supports the work of the International
Criminal Court, which investigates and prosecutes individuals within its jurisdiction
alleged to have committed the gravest crimes of concern to the international community.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">More recently The UK has repeatedly called on the Syrian regime
to abide by the Conventions and has taken a leading role to hold Syria to account.
Since 2016, we have committed almost £1 million to the UN International Impartial
and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to support the preparation of legal cases for serious
crimes committed in the Syrian conflict. Following UK-led lobbying, on 1 August the
UN Secretary General announced a new Board of Inquiry to investigate attacks on civilian
infrastructure during the recent violence in Northwest Syria.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
Geneva Conventions are cornerstones of IHL but contemporary conflict brings challenges
for IHL in a number of areas, such as new technologies and the classification of conflicts.
To examine these challenges and to mark 70 years of the Conventions, the UK with the
strong support of the British Red Cross, will hold an expert conference in October
2019.</ins></p>
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