Image from Dispatches-Channel 4 Facebook page.
Channel 4 in the United Kingdom has broadcast a documentary titled: “Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed”.
The full documentary can be seen here.
In the Democracy Now! segment on this documentary – “Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed”: How U.K. Downplayed Israeli Crimes to Keep Selling Weapons” – Channel 4 producer Ben De Pear says: “Our film focused on the process by which the Foreign Office, our government, assesses Israel’s conduct, its military behavior in Gaza, because not only are they an ally of the United Kingdom, but we also sell them weapons. And we are the signatory of a number of international treaties, including the Genocide Convention, which means if there is even a risk of a genocide taking place, you are meant to take action as a fellow country under that Genocide Convention. You’re meant to stop the genocide, not aid it, not sell weapons. We’re also signatories of the arms treaty, which is that you do not sell arms to a country that may be committing war crimes.”
“And when we got these documents from inside the Foreign Office, they were the assessments written by a team who were watching hundreds of videos, the sort of videos that you and I watched on our phones…”
De Pear adds: “We were looking at how our country, which prides itself on having an ethical foreign policy and as being one of the supporting members of the United Nations on human rights, was able to keep selling arms.”
IHLCAP Cell
The documentary explains: “We’ve obtained assessments produced by the unit the Foreign Office set up [in November 2023] to investigate these alleged violations [of international law by Israel], the International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Cell or IHLCAP Cell. They reviewed evidence of possible war crimes including the hundreds of videos shown here, their assessments inform the Foreign Secretary’s decisions on whether the UK could sell arms to Israel. The UK cannot export weapons to any country that’s breaking international humanitarian law.”
In April 2026, The Guardian reported: “The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed [under the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer] because of cuts within the department, the Guardian can reveal. …The closure of the IHL cell is part of a cut in funding to the conflict and atrocity prevention team, which has been critical in warning the Foreign Office of potential atrocities, including in Sudan.”
Does Canada have an IHLCAP Cell?
The Canadian government does not have a direct parallel to the British IHLCAP Cell but does have the Export Controls Division within Global Affairs Canada, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program, and the Canadian National Committee on Humanitarian Law (CNCHL).
It was Global Affairs Canada that reviewed the sale of Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia and found no credible evidence linking Canadian exports of military equipment to human rights violations by the government of Saudi Arabia in this report published in November 2019.
And it was the Canadian National Committee on Humanitarian Law (CNCHL) that published the Government of Canada’s first Voluntary Report on the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law at the Domestic Level in 2024.
The 40-page government report includes sections on “Canada’s international humanitarian law (IHL) treaty obligations”, “Prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide”, and “Prohibitions and restrictions” under the broader category of “Means and Methods of Warfare”.
While highlighting that this first voluntary report “represents an important step forward”, Steve Tiwa Fomekong, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of Université Laval, comments: “It remains silent on essential elements, such as the number of prosecutions initiated for war crimes, extraditions carried out, or the challenges encountered in these processes. Similarly, with regard to arms transfer controls, no information is provided on possible permits refused, thus limiting transparency.”
Significantly, Fomekong also notes in his analysis: “The report overlooks key contemporary IHL issues relevant to Canada, including the regulation of Canadian companies operating in conflict zones.”
The first Canadian IHL report was released on September 20, 2024. A second report was not issued in 2025. To date, a report has not been issued in 2026.
Exports and human rights defenders
Peace Brigades International-Canada, within our commitment to the holistic protective accompaniment of organizations, defenders and communities, continues to monitor, research and analyze the implications of the export of military goods produced in Canada and the regulation of Canadian companies operating abroad on the lives and safety of the human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and workers movements accompanied by Peace Brigades International.
Part of this work is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of existing mechanisms and how to access them to be able to credibly advocate for measures that contribute to greater safety for human rights defenders.
