UK foreign policy affects millions of poor and vulnerable people caught up in conflicts around the world. It is now at a crossroads, as one Prime Minister prepares to hand over to another.

Oxfam GB has published a major paper looking at the successes and failures of UK foreign policy since the Cold War ended, and at how it has helped or hurt the people with whom Oxfam works.

A fair foreign policy analyses the UK's action (or inaction) in a number of crises, including that of the previous Conservative administration, which failed to take action to protect civilians in Rwanda and Bosnia. It also highlights the real achievements in protecting civilians in Sierra Leone and Kosovo, and the tragic misadventure of Iraq, and calls on the UK to be more consistent in challenging war crimes.

In the light of this, the paper sets out basic principles for any future UK government to consider in order to improve the UK's ability to protect civilians around the world.