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Report publication: Humanitarian access and adherence to international humanitarian law

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• International Development Committee

The UK Government must ensure that it does not protect its allies at the expense of unconditional support for international humanitarian law (IHL), MPs argue in a new report. 

Yesterday the cross-party International Development Committee publishes its report on humanitarian access and adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL) which examines how the UK can support access to aid globally, amid an increasingly hostile climate. 

Protecting allies at the expense of unconditional support for IHL is “unacceptable”, the Committee says, and such actions set a poor example to other states and risk undermining the universality of IHL. “The Government must be ready to call out actions not only when a blatant breach of IHL has been ruled on by a court, but when the spirit of IHL is being eroded,” it recommends. 

The Committee adds: “This condemnation needs to extend to where an overly permissive interpretation of IHL has been taken and must happen in equal measure regardless of the offending party’s diplomatic relationship to the UK. Failure to do so undermines a system designed to keep all civilians safe and to impose limits on the horrors of war.”

In the report, the Committee responds to critics of IHL by saying that this area of law is “clear and comprehensive” and “robust and universal in its coverage”. It says the UK has a “strong and proud history” of upholding IHL, protecting aid workers, and ensuring that others do so too through fora like the United Nations Security Council. 

But the Government could and should go much further, it says. It should aspire to establish itself as the primary champion of IHL on the international stage, and the convener of likeminded states.

It is “unacceptable”, the Committee says, that the Government has failed to issue a formal response to the International Court Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories nearly a year after that ruling emerged. It recommends the Government issue a formal response to the ICJ’s opinion, setting out how it is complying with the obligations on the UK as a third party.

The report comes at one of the most dangerous times in history for humanitarian and aid workers. The Aid Worker Security Database reports 402 major attacks on aid workers in 2024, the highest number recorded since it began collecting data in 1997. In April this year, the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, told the United Nations Security Council that humanitarian workers “are being killed in unprecedented numbers”. 

The Committee echoes these findings in the report. “We see growing examples of where IHL is ignored, or used to justify restrictions to aid delivery,” MPs say. “This has to stop.”

The Committee’s inquiry heard evidence of many barriers to delivering aid, including violence and intimidation but also administrative and bureaucratic barriers. These could include excessive delays or outright denials of permissions such as travel permits, delays or refusals to import key goods such as medicines into a country, and disruption to power, telecoms or internet services. 

Faced with these barriers, the Committee finds that the success of traditional forms of public diplomacy are “patchy at best” and states that “a radically new approach is needed”. The Committee recommends the UK explore creative forms of diplomacy with likeminded states, to bring maximum pressure and combined diplomatic capability to solving specific access issues. 

The Committee’s report also supports the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in holding states and individuals accountable for breaches of IHL. The Committee says that although it has heard evidence on complications regarding the ICC’s jurisdiction, the court still has considerable agreement internationally. 

“At a time when the legitimacy and impartiality of international courts is being questioned by some,” the Committee says, “the UK must stand firm in support of these important mechanisms for accountability to prevent impunity for serious violations of IHL.”

Chair comment

Sarah Champion, Chair of the International Development Committee, said:

“Our report makes clear that adherence to international humanitarian law is non-negotiable. It is never acceptable for aid workers to face intimidation, deliberate bureaucratic obstacles and even lethal violence simply for delivering aid to those in need. Civilians are not legitimate targets, and all practicable measures should be made to protect them in conflicts. 

The internationally agreed conventions on conflict are falling apart before our eyes. We must act now before it is too late to retrieve the protections IHL provide to us all. 

Though the erosion of international humanitarian law is happening all over the world, the conflict in Gaza is one of the most potent examples. The UK must strain every sinew of its diplomatic muscle to ensure aid can be delivered to the people of Gaza. No option must be left untried.

The Government may say it is pressing Israel for a ceasefire and to allow aid in, but I am not reassured that this is the case. Ministers can, and must, go much further, making the UK a passionate global leader for the cause of international humanitarian law.”

Further information

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