Minister: suspend human rights act
Troops are being held back in fight against terror, Defence Secretary tells Telegraph
SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT BRITISH troops are being weakened in their fight against terrorists because they fear human rights lawyers will take them to court, the Defence Secretary has warned.
Michael Fallon attacked “ambulance-chasing law firms” that have brought thousands of cases against the Ministry of Defence over the conduct of British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said soldiers were worried that their actions could land them in court defending compensation claims brought by enemy fighters they capture or relations of those killed.
Ministers are now drawing up plans to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to stop troops being sued for carrying out their duties.
Mr Fallon argued that there was “a strong case” for suspending the European human rights law when sending forces into action overseas. “We don’t need these ambulance-chasing British law firms,” he told The Sunday Telegraph . “It is not only extremely expensive but it inhibits the operational effectiveness of our troops because they start to worry about whether they will end up in a court or not.”
The Defence Secretary’s intervention represents the Government’s toughest public statement in the row over the application of human rights laws to the battlefield. It is the clearest sign so far that ministers are ready to ditch the European convention during military action. His warning comes after The Sunday
Telegraph disclosed that taxpayers faced a £150million bill for defending more than 2,000 separate legal cases, brought by people claiming to have suffered breaches of their human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last week, British and American forces were sent to help Afghan forces fighting a resurgent Taliban, which captured Sangin, in Helmand province, where more than 100 British soldiers died during their previous mission.
Elsewhere, RAF fighter-bombers are in action in Iraq and Syria in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, along with Special Forces and military trainers who are preparing the Iraqi army for combat on the ground.
Mr Fallon warned that service personnel feared legal action when they returned home and argued that the European convention – which applies in the UK through the Human Rights Act – was “not needed” in the field of military conflict overseas.
He added that international agreements such as the Geneva Convention already provide human rights
protection for combatants and “we don’t need the duplication”.
Mr Fallon and Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, are working on plans for a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the European convention into law.
As part of that package, clearer measures could be included to enable ministers to withdraw from the convention temporarily – a process known as “derogation” – when sending forces into battle.
Mr Fallon said: “I would like to see [the Bill of Rights] soon because some of these court rulings are beginning to affect the effectiveness of British troops.”
Since 2004, the MoD has spent £100million on investigations and compensation cases related to the Iraq war, with a further £44million earmarked for new claims.
Soldiers who are caught up in these cases have been forced to relive “gruesome and harrowing” experiences under cross-examination.
The £31 million Al-Sweady Public Inquiry found that while mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners did occur, the most serious allegations, including murder, were “wholly without foundation”.
If military action is required before the new Bill of Rights becomes law, ministers could declare that Britain is to derogate from the ECHR to prevent future human rights claims being brought against the Armed Forces. This public declaration would need to be approved by votes in both the Commons, where the Government has only a small majority, and the Lords, where it does not have a majority.
With this in mind, officials are working on a series of backup options. These include setting a time limit for legal claims to be brought, and taking legal action against law firms that have brought bogus cases.
Further reforms could end legal aid for claimants who are living outside the UK.
An MoD spokesman said: “We will ensure our Armed Forces overseas are not subject to persistent legal claims that undermine their ability to do their job. Ministers have commissioned detailed work and will make any further announcements in due course.”