Melanie Ward

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about soft power and why it is such an important complement to hard power. It has become common to say that the rules-based order is dead or dying, but we must stand with our allies to preserve and defend all that was built to protect humanity from evil in the ashes of two world wars and the cold war. Data shows that since 2012, there has been an increase in the number of countries where mass atrocity crimes are occurring, and action is needed. Let us remind ourselves that we are talking about genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity from Sudan to Sinjar. These are the most heinous crimes that exist—mass identity-based violence. Where is the UK Government’s strategy to work with like-minded countries to prevent that? There is not one. We need to change that, and fast. Doing so would be an obvious complement to the important work that the Foreign Secretary is doing on women and girls in Sudan. The United Nations and the International Criminal Court—two imperfect but vital institutions designed to protect humanity and respond to it at its worst—are under enormous pressure, not least from the US Government, whose sanctions are designed to hobble the ICC. Our Government are supporting the UN and the ICC, but we should be making the case for them loudly and globally, working with like-minded allies to protect and defend their very existence. It is time to act at the pace required by global events. The time for incremental micro-steps is over. We must act at a scale appropriate to the urgency of the moment we are in. On Iran and Ukraine, the Government are doing the right thing, but the world can see for itself what is happening in Palestine and Lebanon. Experts say that there has been genocide in Gaza. Israel continues to bomb and kill, including doctors, hospitals and aid workers in Gaza and Lebanon. Israeli settlers in the west bank are trying to ethnically cleanse Palestinians with the support of their Government.