Fairly tawdry behaviour by the government on the #GenocideAmendment. Survivors will have every right to feel slighted by the shabby and underhand tactics of the whips.

As to the amendment itself, what I said at @LabourFPG remains the case https://www.labourforeignpolicy.org.uk/post/now-is-the-time-for-national-strategy-on-preventing-mass-atrocities

To summarise:

The campaign should be commended for again pushing the gov't surprisingly close & again bringing considerable energy to the debate. Regardless of the fate of the amendment, that energy can now push meaningful policy changes, to not only punish but prevent atrocities

(re support from improbable quarters: while bundling with the hr one was a dirty trick, & while one can't be purist about supporters, the bundling did force some rebels to say the quiet part out loud & admit they don't care about human rights, just cold warrior macho posturing)

(another aside: can't help but flinch when I hear MPs discuss atrocities, the level of knowledge & empathy is so low, the number of basic errors so high - on all sides. Particularly galling: approving citations of war criminals' advisor Sir Geoffrey Nice https://www.srilankacampaign.org/designing-justice-advising-the-accused-the-strange-case-of-sri-lankas-international-advisers/)

Anyhoo. Listening to survivors and their need for acknowledgement of what is involved is necessary, vital indeed. But it's not sufficient. We need protection & prevention, via the strategy & unit that @IBVprev @UNAUK and others have been pushing for

But the resonance of the campaign shows acknowledgement is also important & so we need a mechanism for this. Regrettable side-effect of the debate is that it gave Gov so many chances to trot out the insidious & largely UK-specific falsehood that that mechanism can only be a court

The Gov't did get more confused & contradictory on that point over time. However disingenuously that represents progress in moving the UK to ditch the excuse for inaction that is waiting for courts, & following other countries in making responding to atrocities a policy matter

We can build on that progress, & on whatever mechanism or lack of it eventually emerges from this parliamentary ding-dong. But this should be seen as merely the floor of the government's response to atrocities - to reach the ceiling we will need an atrocity prevention strategy

A final plea: I've seen some tweets flying around saying "this amendment will stop the genocide in xxx". Please don't do this. It is really irresponsible and dangerous to give those facing ongoing risk false hope. /end