Red Line Cymru: Why the Future Generations Act means Wales must do more for Gaza 

Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

This month, as schools reopened, it has been impossible not to think of Palestine, where it’s estimated that a classroom worth of Gaza’s children are being killed every day.

Famine has been officially declared even while food lies just a few miles from those most in need. And the mounting death toll, disease, forced displacement, and destruction continues to horrify.

A panel of experts, commissioned by the United Nations, has now concluded that the Israeli Government has committed genocide in Gaza in the time since the Hamas atrocities of 7th October 2023.

The report holds senior Israeli political and military leaders responsible and urges states across the world to take action to halt what is being called, in no uncertain terms, a crime against humanity.

Welsh Government has ‘strongly welcomed’ the report and written to UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and is exploring what support it can give Gazan children in need of medical treatment.

But if Wales is to live up to its own legal and moral standards, we need to do more.

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What the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 demands

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 binds public bodies (our councils, health boards, government) to act in ways that ensure our decision-making stands up for the long-term, and to play their part as a globally responsible nation.

It calls for a Wales that does not just provide for the present but secures, for those who come after us, a society built on fairness, equity, health, and supported communities.

In my role as Future Generations Commissioner, I have spoken publicly several times on the need for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza, the end of suffering of all civilians and for the immediate release of all hostages.

Part of my duty is to challenge public bodies to prevent harm, and I urge every one of them, including Welsh Government, to do everything in their power to end the genocide.

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Why prevention, solidarity and long-term thinking matter now

Prevention is one of the core principles of the Future Generations Act - demanding that we act before irreversible damage occurs. Allowing famine, disease, and deep destruction to unfold unchecked is against our values.

Wales has repeatedly joined international efforts to show that we see global responsibility not as optional: calling for ceasefires, insisting on essential humanitarian corridors, supporting independent investigations. Solidarity means more than words - it means asking what we can do now.

Wales must remember that decisions today have generational consequences. Nobody is safe, including the hostages, and further atrocities cannot be committed in our name.

What more Wales can, and must, do

We already see strong cross-party momentum: in the Senedd there are calls for Wales to do what it can and for recognition of Palestine as an independent state. The UK has joined six countries including Canada and France, in recognising Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

We have also seen public pressure closer to home: the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) is being asked to divest pension funds from companies complicit in human rights abuses in Gaza.

Here are actions Wales could take:

• Welsh Government to issue a clear, unequivocal public statement recognising the findings of the UN report and calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unimpeded aid access.
• Review procurement contracts and public funding in Wales to ensure suppliers do not have any links with companies or supply chains complicit in violations of international law, including arms trade and settlement expansion.
• Divest Welsh public and local authority pension funds from any firms shown to be complicit in serious human rights abuses, or operating in illegal settlements or supplying equipment used in the conflict. Cardiff Council became the first in Wales to declare its ambition to divest pension funds away from companies complicit in the war on Gaza. Monmouthshire County Council members have just agreed to scrutinise its investments.
• Support and amplify grassroots activism: facilitate public consultations, ensure NGOs and civil society are heard; encourage public campaigns and education about the importance of global justice and international human rights.
• And leverage symbolic and diplomatic power: recognising Palestine is a step, now Wales can put pressure on UK Government to join other governments in pressing for investigations, supporting international courts and applying moral pressure, including via boycotts in major events.

No more red lines

I support Oxfam’s Red Line for Gaza campaign. The bombing of Rafah was a red line; the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab was a red line, the silencing by death of an estimated 189 journalists and media workers, is a red line.

Welsh public bodies’ legal and moral obligations to global responsibility do not switch off when a crisis is abroad. In a globalised world, the shape of Wales in that world matters.

A moment of truth

This is a moment that demands leadership.

All red lines have been crossed. People in Wales are making themselves heard - from the crowds supporting Dafydd Iwan draped in a Palestine flag singing Yma O Hyd at the Eisteddfod, to the Merched Cymru Dros Heddwch campaign, to the people on the Senedd steps this summer, who read out the names of an estimated 20,000 children killed in Gaza.

Let us commit, today, to being able to tell future generations we did everything we could to stop genocide.