Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Table of contents

1. International Court of Justice order on Gaza

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party) to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what assessment he has made of Israel’s compliance with the summary order regarding Gaza issued by the International Court of Justice on 26 January, and what assessment he has made of the implications for the United Kingdom’s obligations, particularly with regard to arms exports.

1.1 Summary

South Africa has brought a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Israel is guilty of acts of genocide in Gaza. On 26 January 2024, the court issued a decision on provisional measures, which included that the case had the legal right to proceed.[1] (The court did not say there was a ‘plausible case’ that genocide had been committed, despite how the judgment was reported by some media outlets, as the ICJ’s former president Joan Donoghue has clarified.)[2] The court had been asked to order Israel to immediately halt operations in Gaza, which the ICJ declined to do. However, the court did instruct Israel to prevent its military from committing acts which might be considered genocidal, to prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and to enable humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.[3] The court also ordered Israel to preserve evidence relating to allegations of genocide and to report to the court on progress within one month. In addition, it ordered the immediate release of all hostages, and reminded all parties to the conflict that they were bound by international humanitarian law.

The ICJ issued an additional ruling on 28 March 2024 in response to further communication from South Africa referring to “the developing circumstances in Rafah” and the existing humanitarian situation, and calling upon the court to take urgent action under the terms of the original 26 January order.[4] Israel submitted its own response to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the 26 January order. In its resultant 28 March ruling, the ICJ said that Israel must enable the “unhindered” flow of aid into Gaza. This included food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care. In response to the ruling, the Israeli government said it was working on new initiatives and the expansion of existing ones to further the flow of aid into Gaza.[5] South Africa is also asking the ICJ to order an immediate halt to Israel’s anticipated incursion into Rafah, hearings upon which and the wider case were ongoing at the time of writing.[6]

The UK government has made no comment on whether it believes that Israel is abiding by the terms of the ICJ’s 26 January ruling. In response to questions from MPs on this subject on 9 May 2024, Attorney General Victoria Prentis said that the UK government firmly respected the role and the independence of the ICJ.[7] She added: “[The ICJ’s] ruling, or order, called for the immediate release of the hostages and referred to the need to get more aid into Gaza, and that is exactly what the government are also calling for”.

The UK government does not directly sell arms to Israel but grants export licenses to weapons companies based on legal advice. As noted by the attorney general, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton said on 9 April 2024 that the UK’s position on export licenses remained unchanged.[8] Lord Cameron also contended in a subsequent interview with the BBC on 12 May 2024 that altering the UK’s approach on arms exports “would make Hamas stronger and it would make a hostage deal less likely”.[9]

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2. Russian oil

Lord West of Spithead (Labour) to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of UK sanctions on Russia, and in particular on the number of tankers and other ships trading in Russian oil despite those sanctions.

2.1 Summary

In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the import, acquisition, supply and delivery of Russian oil and oil products into the UK has been banned since 5 December 2022.[10] In addition, the UK has been part of a coalition of western states that has implemented an oil price cap on Russian oil.[11] Aimed at reducing Russian revenues from oil sales, this prohibits UK and coalition firms from providing services such as shipping, insurance and finance to facilitate the maritime transport of Russian oil and oil products unless the oil was purchased at or below an agreed price cap, set at $60 a barrel for crude oil.

However, while the oil price cap measure is thought to have impacted Russian oil revenues since implementation, its effectiveness is thought to have reduced over time with Russian crude oil now “consistently” selling for more than $70 a barrel.[12] A ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers, assembled by Russia and comprising both ageing vessels either acquired directly or indirectly to circumvent western restrictions on oil sales and a ‘dark fleet’ of tankers that previously transported Iranian and Venezuelan oil, has been key to this trend.[13] Estimates of the size of the shadow fleet vary, with estimates of the number of tankers alone ranging from hundreds to over 1,000.[14] Shadow fleet vessels are thought to sail under a range of ‘flags of convenience’, including those of Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Panama, the Cook Islands and Gabon. An increasing number have been sailing without adequate maritime insurance since the introduction of the oil price cap.

In April 2024 the UK government said it had “sanctioned over 2,000 individuals and entities under the Russia sanctions regime, including those who support Russia’s efforts to circumvent UK and G7 oil sanctions”.[15] It added that it would build on this action by “enhancing our power to sanction individual vessels under the Russia sanctions regime”. The government said this enhanced power would allow the sanctions approach to be “even more targeted and will increase Russia’s costs further, including where Russia uses the shadow fleet to export its oil by sea”. Ministers have also supported multilateral responses, including an International Maritime Organization resolution aimed at preventing unsafe ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil by shadow fleet vessels.[16]

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3. UK-South Africa relations

The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what are his priorities for working with the government of South Africa after their forthcoming general election.

3.1 Summary

South Africa will hold both a general election and provincial legislature elections on 29 May 2024.[17] Polls indicate the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa could obtain less than 50% of the vote and lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid, while still remaining the largest party. This means there is a possibility the ANC may need to rely on informal support arrangements or form a coalition with another party (or other parties) to stay in office.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) currently forms the main opposition in the National Assembly, with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) the third largest party. However, this year a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, will also be competing for votes alongside other new parties and independents.[18] MK is currently polling slightly behind the EFF.[19]

Members of South Africa’s National Assembly vote for who is to serve as president within 30 days of a general election. The ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa will be campaigning for re-election, competing with the DA’s John Steenhuisen, the EFF’s Julius Malema and MK’s Jacob Zuma.

South Africa takes a non-aligned approach to foreign policy, meaning it pursues its own aims without allying with particular blocs.[20] For example, the country has described itself as “actively non-aligned” in Russia’s war against Ukraine.[21] At the 2024 summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, President Ramaphosa called on other non-aligned countries to continue to assert their independence “at a time when the world appears to be once again divided between east and west”.

In its ‘Integrated review refresh 2023’, the UK government said it would “continue to invest in long-term relationships across the [African] continent” and named South Africa as a key partner in Africa alongside Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt.[22] The government says the basis for UK-South Africa cooperation is set out in the UK-South Africa Bilateral Forum Communiqué agreed in 2015.[23]

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4. Conflict-induced food insecurity

Lord Browne of Ladyton (Labour) to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what diplomatic steps he is taking to address conflict-induced food insecurity, and to hold accountable those violating international humanitarian law through the deliberate use of hunger as a weapon of war.

4.1 Summary

In 2018, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted resolution 2417, which condemned the use of starvation against civilians as a method of warfare.[24] The resolution also condemned the “unlawful denial of humanitarian access” and the act of “wilfully impeding relief supply”. The resolution was adopted unanimously, including by the UK as a permanent member of the UNSC.

In April 2024, a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises identified armed conflicts as the major driver of current worldwide food insecurity.[25] According to projections from March 2024, the report concluded that up to 208.3 million people (from the at-risk countries examined) were likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024. The report said that over 50% of these people were in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Myanmar. The conflict situation in these countries was regarded as the primary driver.

The report highlighted the ongoing crises in Gaza and Sudan as particular areas of concern. It noted that Sudan experienced a significant deterioration in food security following the conflict which broke out in April 2023. An additional 8.6 million people have faced high levels of acute food insecurity since that time, bringing the total population facing acute food insecurity in Sudan to 20.3 million—almost half the country. Similarly, the report said that the current crisis in Gaza had “resulted in the worst food crisis ever recorded”. The United Nations World Food Programme has not yet declared a formal famine in Gaza, but UN officials have voiced concerns that this is imminent and suggested that it may already be occurring in the north of the territory.[26]

When this briefing was first published on 17 May 2024, it stated that there had been no legal determination that any of the parties involved in these conflicts had breached international law through the deliberate use of hunger as a weapon of war. However, on 20 May 2024 the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for various figures including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.[27] The charges against Mr Netanyahu and others in the Israeli government include that they bear criminal responsibility for the “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”. The Israeli prime minister has reacted angrily to prior suggestions of charges being made against senior Israeli figures, calling it “an outrage of historic proportions”.[28]

In its ruling of 28 March 2024 on the conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said that Israel must enable the “unhindered” flow of aid into Gaza.[29] This included food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care. In response, the Israeli government said it was working on new initiatives and the expansion of existing ones to further the flow of aid into Gaza.[30] There has been no corresponding case at the ICJ with regard to Sudan.

The UK government has also told Israel that supplies of aid to Gaza must be increased.[31] Speaking in a recent interview with the BBC on 12 May 2024, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said that Israel has not had “a clean bill of health” on allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.[32] Ministers have welcomed pledges by Israel to increase aid supplies.[33] The UK also announced on 15 May 2024 that 100 tonnes of UK aid was on its way to the maritime pier built off the coast of Gaza by the US army and navy, to help supply the civilian population.[34]

With regard to Sudan, Lord Cameron has voiced concern that famine was imminent and said that “anyone supporting those responsible for the atrocities [which have taken place in the conflict] must be held to account. The fighting must end now”.[35]

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Cover image © House of Lords 2023 / photography by Annabel Moeller.

This briefing was updated on 20 May 2024 to include reference to the announcement made by the International Criminal Court.

References

  1. International Court of Justice, ‘Application of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel): Request for the indication of provisional measures’, 26 January 2024. Return to text
  2. BBC News, ‘Former head of ICJ explains ruling on genocide case against Israel brought by S Africa’, 26 April 2024 (video). Return to text
  3. BBC News, ‘What is South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ?’, 30 January 2024. Return to text
  4. International Court of Justice, ‘Application of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel)’, 28 March 2024. Return to text
  5. BBC News, ‘Top UN court orders Israel to allow food and medical aid into Gaza’, 29 March 2024. Return to text
  6. BBC News, ‘Israel responds to UN's top court after South Africa's call to halt Rafah offensive’, 16 May 2024. Return to text
  7. HC Hansard, 9 May 2024, cols 686–8. Return to text
  8. HC Hansard, 9 May 2024, cols 686–8; and Guardian, ‘UK will not suspend arms exports to Israel, David Cameron says’, 9 April 2024. Return to text
  9. BBC News, ‘UK ban on selling arms to Israel would strengthen Hamas, says Cameron’, 12 May 2024. Return to text
  10. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Oil: Imports (20432)’, 15 April 2024. Return to text
  11. House of Lords, ‘Written question: Russia: Tankers (HL2031)’, 14 February 2024. See also: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Business and Trade, ‘UK ban on Russian oil and oil products’, updated 14 April 2023; and House of Commons Library, ‘Sanctions against Russia’, 28 February 2024, pp 28–9. Return to text
  12. Politico, ‘Russian oil price cap has largely failed, new report finds’, 5 December 2023. See also: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, ‘How global oil sanctions lowered Russian oil export prices’, 14 May 2024; and David Sheppard et al, ‘Almost no Russian oil is sold below $60 cap, say western officials’, Financial Times (£), 14 November 2023. Return to text
  13. David Sheppard et al, ‘Russia assembles ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers to help blunt oil sanctions’, Financial Times (£), 2 December 2022; Chris Cook and David Sheppard, ‘Iran’s ‘ghost fleet’ switches into Russian oil’, Financial Times (£), 7 February 2023; and Chris Cook and David Sheppard, ‘Russia dodges G7 price cap sanctions on most of its oil exports’, Financial Times (£), 24 September 2023. Some commentators have used the term ‘shadow fleet’ to include both vessels sailing in support of Russia circumventing western sanctions and a ‘dark fleet’ of vessels which sail without transponders, while others have used the terms interchangeably to refer to all vessels transporting Russian oil. Return to text
  14. Elisabeth Braw, ‘Russia’s growing dark fleet: Risks for the global maritime order’, Atlantic Council, 11 January 2024; and Tom Wilson and Chris Cook, ‘The west’s Russia oil ban, one year on’, Financial Times (£), 10 December 2023. Return to text
  15. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Russia: Oil (20650)’, 15 April 2024. Return to text
  16. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Oil: Pollution (4756)’, 8 December 2023; International Maritime Organization, ‘Addressing ship-to-ship oil transfers and tankers in the “dark fleet”’, 4 April 2023; and Lloyd’s List, ‘IMO assembly adopts ‘dark fleet’ resolution to tackle ‘illegal operations’’, 6 December 2023. Return to text
  17. Damian Zane, ‘South Africa election 2024: When is the poll and what is at stake for the ANC?’, BBC News, 11 May 2024. Return to text
  18. Christopher Vandome, ‘The South African election campaign season marks a shift to a volatile new politics’, Chatham House, updated 16 April 2024. Return to text
  19. Economist (£), ‘Who will be the next president of South Africa?’, updated 13 May 2024. Return to text
  20. House of Commons Library, ‘South Africa election 2024 lookahead’, 26 February 2024. Return to text
  21. Reuters, ‘South Africa is ‘actively non-aligned’ on Ukraine war, says government’, 13 May 2023. Return to text
  22. HM Government, ‘Integrated review refresh 2023’, 13 March 2023, CP 811, p 25. Return to text
  23. HM Government, ‘South Africa and the UK’, accessed 17 May 2024; and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, ‘UK-South Africa Joint Communiqué 2015’, 19 October 2015. Return to text
  24. United Nations, ‘Adopting Resolution 2417 (2018), Security Council strongly condemns starving of civilians, unlawfully denying humanitarian access as warfare tactics’, 24 May 2018. Return to text
  25. Global Network Against Food Crises, ‘Global report on food crises (GRFC) 2024’, 24 April 2024. Return to text
  26. Associated Press, ‘The UN says there’s ‘full-blown famine’ in northern Gaza. What does that mean?’, 6 May 2024; and Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), ‘Gaza Strip: Famine is imminent as 1.1 million people, half of Gaza, experience catastrophic food insecurity’, 18 March 2024. Return to text
  27. International Criminal Court, ‘Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine’, 20 May 2024. Return to text
  28. BBC News, ‘ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders’, 20 May 2024. Return to text
  29. International Court of Justice, ‘Application of the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel)’, 28 March 2024. Return to text
  30. BBC News, ‘Top UN court orders Israel to allow food and medical aid into Gaza’, 29 March 2024. Return to text
  31. BBC News, ‘Cameron warns Israeli minister Gaza aid must increase’, 6 March 2024. Return to text
  32. BBC News, ‘UK ban on selling arms to Israel would strengthen Hamas, says Cameron’, 12 May 2024. Return to text
  33. HC Hansard, 17 April 2024, col 308. Return to text
  34. Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office, ‘UK aid en route to temporary pier off Gaza’, 15 May 2024. Return to text
  35. Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, ‘Personal X account’, 15 April 2024. Return to text