The UK government has shut down a specialized unit responsible for documenting potential Israeli war crimes during the war in Gaza, according to a report by The Guardian cited by Al Jazeera.
Budgetary reductions within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCD/FCDO) forced the closure of the international humanitarian law cell. The move also ends government funding for the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project, which is managed by the independent Centre for Information Resilience (CIR).
An FCDO spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the closure is part of an "internal restructure." The spokesperson stated that the cell's work would continue through a "different team in the FCDO."
"We continue to heavily invest expertise and resources into our conflict prevention and resolution work, including the monitoring of international humanitarian law in Gaza," the spokesperson added.
Loss of investigative data
The CIR project utilized open-source monitoring to track incidents across occupied Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. The center has conducted more than 20 investigations into specific events, including the shooting of children in Gaza.
The organization maintains a database of roughly 26,000 verified incidents across the Middle East. The Guardian reported that the FCDO may lose access to this database once the current funding stream ends, potentially removing a vital information source for government decision-making.
Despite these concerns, the FCDO spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the department would "retain access" to CIR research that it had previously funded. The official noted that the project’s reports represent only one part of the government's broader approach to international humanitarian law issues.
This shutdown follows a period of significant instability within the FCDO. In July, the office's former permanent secretary indicated plans to reduce the workforce by as much as 25 percent. In November, the department also announced it would abolish its unit dedicated to emerging conflicts and displacement crises.
Internal friction has also surfaced regarding the UK's arms sales to Israel. Mark Smith, a diplomat who resigned over the government's refusal to halt these sales, told Al Jazeera that civil servants who questioned official policies were routinely silenced.
