Today, we marked the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime with a Parliamentary session focused on ‘Wounds Beyond War: Sexual and/or Reproductive Violence as Means of Genocide.’

We heard from:

Alisa Kovalenko – a Ukrainian documentary filmmaker and former soldier in the Ukrainian Voluntary Army. Her films have focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both during the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She is also a survivor of CRSV in Ukraine. 

Rahima Mahmut – an Uyghur singer, human rights activist, translator and interpreter, spearheading the campaign in the UK to end the ongoing Uyghur genocide.

Ambassador Melanne Verveer – the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Amb. Verveer previously served as the first US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009.

Christina Lamb OBE – a British journalist and author. She is the chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times and has won several major awards. 

We also heard from Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws LT KC, Brendan O’Hara MP, and Lord Alton of Liverpool.

Several follow-ups, including on justice and accountability for international crimes. More information will follow.

The session was organised in collaboration with the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union.

On 27 November 2025, our patron, Lord Alton of Liverpool, will speak during a short debate in the UK House of Lords, raising the dire situation in Darfur, Sudan. Among others, he will discuss the findings of a new report on Darfur – Rivers of Blood – Escaping Darfur – launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sudan and South Sudan.

In the foreword of the report, Lord Alton writes:

We Cannot Say We Did Not Know

Several decades have passed since the world first began to speak of atrocities in Darfur. At that time, the international community pledged such horrors would not be allowed to recur. And yet, as this Report shows, mass displacement, ethnic persecution, and targeted violence have returned with devastating force.

I travelled to the region with Rebecca Tinsley, President and Founder of Waging Peace, twenty years ago. Survivors told us how their villages had been destroyed, their families murdered, and their livelihoods ruined. Many of the testimonies we heard then are echoed here. What strikes me now is how many of those same communities, or their children, remain trapped in cycles of displacement and despair.

The findings of this Report, based on fieldwork in eastern Chad, reveal the suffering millions now endure. History has not moved on for those forced from their homes. For many, exile and precarity remain daily realities. The Adré transit camp alone hosts over 240,000 people, an entire city of the dispossessed. As the Report notes, “their futures are suspended. And the longer this crisis drags on without meaningful intervention, the more likely it is that suffering will harden into permanence”.

This is not a distant tragedy but a present emergency. Refugees arrive traumatised and bereaved. Many are women and children, bearing the burdens of displacement, hunger, and violence. As one refugee mother recalled: “El Geneina was like a little paradise…Now THE RIVERS OF DARFUR RUN WITH BLOOD”. Such testimony is harrowing, but it must be heard. Silence and indifference are accomplices to atrocity.

The crisis also exposes the weakness of our humanitarian response. Adré was never designed to host such numbers, nor for so long. By mid-2025, the United Nations’ refugee plan for Chad was only 4.7% funded. No community can survive with dignity under such conditions.

It is not enough to lament Sudan’s violence or the misery of those now across the border. The test is whether we act with resolve to protect the vulnerable, to insist on accountability, and to sustain those rebuilding their lives in exile. Justice matters too. Impunity for those who orchestrate ethnic cleansing ensures such crimes will be repeated.

If displacement is to become a long-term reality, policies must adjust. Camps cannot remain holding pens of despair; they must become places where people can live, learn, and recover until durable solutions are found.

I am struck too by the courage and generosity of those who carry the heaviest burdens. Host communities in Chad, themselves poor and marginalised, have welcomed vast numbers of refugees. Humanitarian aid workers – Chadian and international – labour under immense strain. Refugees show extraordinary resilience too. They care for one another with the most limited means. Their solidarity must be matched by our own, now and urgently.

For over four decades in Parliament and beyond, I have sought to draw attention to persecuted and marginalised communities – from Darfur to Iraq, Nigeria, Xinjiang, and Myanmar. My motivation has always been the same: to stand alongside those silenced and to urge governments and institutions to match words with deeds.

This Report is written in that spirit.

It also reflects the consistent work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sudan and South Sudan, which for many years has provided a cross-party platform to bear witness to these crises and press for action. In that context, I wish to pay tribute to the late JOHN MONTAGU, 11th Earl of Sandwich, who served as a key leader of the Group for over two decades. His wisdom, compassion, and tireless advocacy for the people of Sudan and South Sudan remain an enduring example to us all.

This Report does not set out a technical blueprint. Instead, it gives voice to the displaced and marginalised. It challenges us not to consign Darfur and its people to the footnotes of international concern. The atrocities described here echo those of twenty years ago, but the question is whether the world will respond differently this time. The Report demands a long-term strategy because ” the scale of human need demands a response that goes beyond tents and rations”. That demand is backed up by firsthand accounts that are harrowing, compelling, and urgent.

We cannot say we did not know. The evidence is here. The voices are here. The responsibility is ours.

– THE LORD ALTON OF LIVERPOOL KCSG KCMCO

The report can be found here:

Coalition for Genocide Response joins several non-governmental organisations supporting universal jurisdiction reforms in the UK. Please see below.

On 16 Oct 2025, the Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes published a special briefing on the critical threats facing Bosnia – from ethno-nationalist separatists within and Russian-supported interference from without – and the steps the UK Government should immediately take to reaffirm the rule of law and maintain the peace, consistent with the Dayton Peace Agreement of 14 Dec 1995, in support of the Bosnian state. 

The recommended steps are specifically concerned with preventing instability which could lead to the re-occurrence of conflict and, if so, potentially atrocity crimes, which is even more salient given that this year marks the 30-year anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, as well as the ratification of the peace negotiated at Dayton.

On 22 Oct 2025, the UK Government will host the London Leaders’ Summit for the six Western Balkans States and European partners, under the Berlin Process. The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold its semi-annual debate on BiH in early Nov 2025 where the main agenda item will be the vote to reauthorise the EU-led multinational stabilisation force (EUFOR Althea), as its current mandate expires on 2 Nov 2025. Discussions are also expected to focus on the country’s political situation, particularly regarding the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and its continued mandate. Russia is being heavily lobbied by ethno-nationalist separatists in Bosnia to veto the mandates of both EUFOR and the OHR.

The Standing Group’s Executive Committee commissioned the briefing as part of its discretionary and limited mandate to intervene in situations of grave concern where they relate to the risk of atrocity crimes impacting international peace and security. 
A version of the briefing has been sent to relevant stakeholders.

The briefing was drafted by Aarif Abraham, Dr Kurt Bassuener, PhD and Dr Valery Perry. It was kindly reviewed by Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Prof. Christine Chinkin and Prof. Payam Akhavan.

On 13 October 2025, the Coalition for Genocide Response joined several civil society organisations calling upon the EU to dedicate a share of asset-backed loan to reparations for victims/survivors of human rights violations. As the organisations stress:

With a EUR 140 billion loan to Ukraine – backed by immobilised Russian sovereign assets – now on the table, the European Union must innovate by leveraging these assets and assign a portion of the funds for victims of gross human rights violations and serious violations of humanitarian law.  

Dedicating as little as 2% of this reparation loan – EUR 2.8 billion – to domestic reparations programmes would transform lives. This bold step would showcase European leadership and a commitment to the rule of law, enabling the E.U. and Ukraine to: 

• Deliver reparations to all victims in urgent need, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence; 
• Provide recognition and redress to families of the disappeared; 
• Support rehabilitation and compensation for victims of torture and other grave violations. 

See the full statement here: https://www.globalsurvivorsfund.org/latest/articles/ukraine-eu-asset-backed-loan-to-reparations-for-survivors/

On 15 September 2025, the Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes has issued a Call for Written Submissions.

The Call forms part of an independent review being undertaken by the Standing Group. This review, supported by expert-led evidence, will assist in the articulation and development of recommendations for a comprehensive and cohesive UK framework to address atrocity-related issues.

The Standing Group welcomes submissions of written evidence from experts on the key issues under review. These key issues relate to UK Government anticipation, prevention, and response to international crimes, as well as resource mobilisation.

Colleagues are invited to respond to the guiding questions presented in the Call by key issue and are also encouraged to address the Group on the relevance, nature, and scope of these issues in relation to the core aims of the Standing Group, as set out in the Concept Note, which is available on the Group’s website.

The Call outlines the terms of reference and clarifies how, and in what form, submissions might assist the Group’s work. Select written submissions may be published, with consent, at the discretion of the Executive Committee of the Standing Group upon receipt.

The deadline for written submissions is midnight on 3 January 2026.

Further details can be found here: https://www.atrocitystandinggroup.org/news/standing-group-launches-call-for-evidence

On 9 September 2025, the House of Lords (in the Grand Committee) will debate the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) Daesh Inquiry Report. The report is available on the website of the JCHR: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47848/documents/250062/default/

A few key highlights of the report: 

• Zero successful prosecutions in UK courts for international crimes committed in Syria and Iraq by Daesh 
• Investigation and prosecution require better coordination – changes needed 
• The government has a responsibility to repatriate British children held in camps in North East Syria 

The Joint Committee calls on the Government to: 

• Develop a coherent framework to ensure that the UK’s investigating and prosecuting bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, are better coordinated in evidence gathering and carrying out investigations.
• Step up efforts to identify British nationals currently held in camps in Syria. Where there is sufficient evidence that international crimes were committed, they should be prosecuted.
• Change the law to abolish the restrictions on the principle of universal jurisdiction as enshrined in the International Criminal Court Act 2001, including the proposed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, currently being debated by Parliament.

See a briefing from the Coalition for Genocide Response here:

In August 2025, Coalition for Genocide Response joined over 100 non-governmental organisations calling upon States to support a mandate extension for the Inde­pen­dent International Fact-Fin­ding Mission (FFM) for Sudan.

Extracts from letter can be found below.

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland)

14 August 2025 

Sudan: Extend the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission for two more years

Your Excellencies,

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 60^th session (8 Sep­tem­ber-3 October 2025), we, the un­der­si­gned civil society orga­ni­sa­tions, write to urge your delegation to support a mandate extension for the Inde­pen­dent International Fact-Fin­ding Mission (FFM) for the Sudan.

In light of the serious violations of international law committed by all parties to the conflict, inclu­ding alarming rates of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women and girls, and of the on­­going need to collect and preserve evidence and identify those responsible with a view to en­su­ring that they are held accountable, the next Council resolution on Sudan should extend the FFM’s man­­date for at least two years. It should also re­quest the FFM to regu­larly re­port to the Council in the framework of public debates on Sudan’s human rights situation. […]

As the FFM highlighted in its June 2025 update: “One message emerged with resounding clarity: peace without justice is an illusion. Accountability is not a luxury; it is a prerequisite for a sustai­nable peace in Sudan as its very absence is amongst the key root causes of conflict. The preparations for justice should therefore begin now, and any peace agreement must address issues of justice.”

Investigations and public reporting remain indispensable, with a continued strong focus on inves­ti­­gating the current atrocities, including crimes of SGBV perpetrated against the Sudanese people, par­ti­cularly women and girls, by the warring parties.

As Sudan’s conflict is ongoing and egre­gious violations con­ti­nue to be committed by all parties to the conflict, with further needs for col­lection and preservation of evidence and identification of per­petrators, there is no other option for the Council but to extend the FFM’s mandate. 

At its upcoming 60^th session, the Human Rights Council should therefore:

–   Extend the mandate of the FFM, in full, for two years;

–   Request the FFM to provide the Human Rights Council with oral updates on its work at its 62^nd and 65^th sessions, to be followed by enhanced interactive dialogues that should include the participation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, representatives of the Afri­can Union, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, ci­vil society, victims and survivors and other relevant stakeholders, and com­pre­hensive reports at its 63^rd and 66^th sessions, to be followed by interactive dialogues, and to present the reports to the General Assembly at its 81^st and 82^nd sessions;

–   Recommend that the General Assembly submit the reports of the FFM to the Security Coun­­cil for its consideration and appropriate action in order that those responsible for human rights violations, including those that may amount to crimes under international law, are held to account, including through the expansion of the International Criminal Court’s ju­ris­diction to cover the entire territory of Sudan and consideration of the scope for effective and targeted measures, including against those who appear to be most respon­sible for these crimes, taking into account the relevant conclusions and recommendations of the FFM;

–   Call upon all parties concerned, including United Nations bodies, to consider implementa­tion of the recommendations made by the FFM in its reports in order to address the dire situation of human rights in Sudan;

–   Invite the FFM to consider ways of briefing all relevant United Nations bodies, including the Security Council; and

–   Make clear that the Human Rights Council will remain actively seized of the matter, including by assessing the situation in Sudan and appropriate responses, which could include further ex­ten­sions of the FFM’s mandate.

A two-year extension for the FFM’s mandate does not mean that the HRC should remain silent about Sudan for two years. Notwithstanding the proposed mandate extension, with associated reporting re­qui­rements, until the Council’s 66^th ses­sion (September 2027), the Council should adopt a resolu­tion on Su­dan at its 63^rd session (September 2026), taking stock of developments and following up on its action on the country to date. This should be a proactive initiative aimed at bringing violations and impu­nity to an end and advancing human rights and accountability in Sudan.

Furthermore, we urge the Council to follow up on resolutions S-32/1, 50/1, S-36/1, 54/2, and 57/2 by requesting additional reporting by the High Commissioner, with the assistance of his designated Expert, be­yond the Council’s 61^st session (February-April 2026).^[18] The Council should:

–   Request the High Commissioner, with the assistance of the Expert on human rights in the Sudan, to submit to the Human Rights Council at its 64^th and 67^th sessions comprehensive re­ports on the situation of human rights in the Sudan and on violations and abuses com­mit­ted by all parties to the conflict, to be followed by interactive dialogues with the par­ticipation of the High Commissioner and the Expert.

Finally, we urge States to pay their contributions to the UN in full and on time to mitigate the li­­qui­dity crisis and allow the FFM for Sudan, other independent investigations, and human rights bodies and mechanisms to fulfil their respective mandates, including by delivering outcomes and reports requested by intergovernmental bodies such as the Human Rights Council.

We thank you for your attention to these pressing issues and stand ready to provide your delegation with further information as required.

Sincerely, 

The list of signatories can be found here: https://defenddefenders.org/sudan-extend-ffm-mandate-two-more-years/

August 3, 2025, marks the 11th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide – genocide perpetrated by Daesh (also known as ISIS, ISIL, or IS), a non-state actors, against an ethno-religious community in Sinjar, Iraq. Eleven years later, the Yazidi genocide is ongoing, with over 2,600 Yazidi women and children still missing. The Yazidi genocide is still ongoing with the promise of justice being unfulfilled. The Yazidi genocide is still ongoing with no steps being taken to prevent further atrocities against the community in the future.

On August 3, 2014, Daesh launched a devastating attack on Sinjar, inflicting widespread atrocities on the Yazidi community. The terror group killed thousands, predominantly targeting men and elderly women, while abducting boys to forcibly conscript them as child soldiers. Thousands of women and girls were kidnapped and subjected to sexual slavery and violence. To this day, over 2,600 Yazidi women and children remain unaccounted for. Daesh’s crimes included murder, enslavement, deportation, and forced displacement. The group systematically imprisoned, tortured, abducted, exploited, abused, raped, and coerced women into marriages across the region. In the days following the Sinjar assault, Daesh expanded its campaign of terror to other communities in the Nineveh Plains, causing 120,000 people to flee in the dead of night in a desperate bid to save their lives.

Read more from our co-founder Dr Ewelina Ochab here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2025/08/01/the-pursuit-of-justice-for-the-yazidi-genocide-must-continue/

(Source: Forbes)

On 24 July, Asymmetrical Haircuts released a new episode of their podcast covering the Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes. Hear from Aarif Abraham, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and trustee of the Coalition for Genocide Response, Dr Ewelina Ochab, senior lawyer for International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response, and Professor Christine Chinkin.

Listen to it here: https://blubrry.com/asymmetricalhaircuts/147252614/episode-140-states-atrocity-crimes-obligations-with-aarif-abraham-christine-chinkin-and-ewelina-ochab/