Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which team within her Department has responsibility for identifying early warning signs of atrocity crimes; and if she will publish the criteria that team uses to make such an assessment.

The team leading on atrocity prevention in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's United Nations and Multilateral Department shares the following with their geographic departments to help them formulate policy in response to atrocity risks:

Reporting from the United Nations (UN). Non-sensitive reports are available on the internet;
Countries at Risk of Instability (CRI);
US Holocaust Memorial Museum Early Warning Project and other reports available in the public domain from Non-Governmental Organisations;
Analysis and assessments shared between Member States, at the UN and international fora.

The CRI process involves a quantitative and qualitative process to calculate a country's risk of instability by assessing the pressure on a country's government and the resilience of its institutions to withstand further pressures. It uses over 80 indicators including respect for human rights, respect for the law, displacement and political stability. It is an internal document for HMG use and there are no plans to publish the criteria.