Aegis calls on Government to adopt Parliament’s recommendations and completely close the ‘impunity gap’ for genocide suspects in UK

In a report released today, the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights says inconsistencies in the way the UK applies international law have created an “impunity gap” for perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It commends the Government's recent decision to amend to legislation to partially address the problem, but calls for it to close remaining loopholes in the law and to re-establish a specialist war crimes unit to investigate people in the UK who are suspected of such offences.

Under the law as it stands, no-one in the UK can be prosecuted for war crimes in internal armed conflicts, genocide or crimes against humanity committed before 2001. Even if people here are suspected of committing such offences since 2001, they can only be prosecuted if legally resident here, not merely if they are present in the country (for eg., visiting on a student or business visa).

The Aegis Trust worked with MPs and Lord Carlile QC, Lord Falconer QC and Baroness D’Souza to prepare amendments to the Coroners and Criminal Justice Bill which would have closed these loopholes. Tabled in the House of Lords, they triggered the Government’s decision last month to extend jurisdiction of UK courts to prosecute international crimes as far back as 1991.

As the Committee points out, however, this only takes jurisdiction back to the date on which Crimes Against Humanity became recognised as crimes in international law. It argues for jurisdiction on genocide and war crimes in internal armed conflicts to be extended back to the dates on which they were recognised in international law (e.g. 1948 for genocide).

The Committee also supports Aegis’ call for replacement of the ‘residence’ test with a simple ‘presence’ test, so that anyone present on UK soil could be subject to jurisdiction on international crimes, not only those who are legally resident. This is the test used by other common law countries such as Canada, the US, New Zealand, South Africa.

“The Aegis Trust is delighted that the Joint Committee on Human Rights has adopted all of our recommendations for strengthening UK law in this area,” says Aegis’ Head of Campaigns Nick Donovan, whose evidence is quoted in the Committee’s report. “We too commend the Government for the bold progress made last month, and call on it to finish the job by closing remaining legal loopholes which benefit suspected war criminals in the UK.”

In June Aegis published a report that brought together, for the first time, details of people entering the UK who are suspected of international crimes. The report – 'Suspected war criminals and genocidaires in the UK: Proposals to strengthen UK law' – examines 18 cases, including those of suspected genocidaires from Rwanda, alleged torturers from Zimbabwe, Iraq, Liberia and the Congo, and alleged war criminals from Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. They include such people as a Lieutenant Colonel from KHAD, the Soviet-era Afghan government’s secret police; an alleged Tamil Tiger assassination hit squad driver, and a member of Sierra Leone’s ‘Mosquito’ rebel group, notorious for murder, rape, looting, burning, sexual slavery and forced amputations.

The Joint Committee’s report comes at a time when the workload of the UK Border Agency’s war crimes team is increasing. Several weeks ago, the Government revealed that in the first six months of 2009, recommendations of immigration status refusal following investigation were up four-fold on the preceding four years. Since 2004, there have been 421 cases where immigration action was recommended and 30 cases where the matter was referred was made to the police. How many of these people are currently at large in the UK is unclear.

Conservative volunteers travel to Rwanda for Project Umubano

Andrew Mitchell, the Shadow International Development Secretary, will lead a group of around 100 volunteers in Rwanda for the third year of Project Umubano.

The group will depart this weekend, with some travelling to Sierra Leone as the Project branches into new countries.

The volunteers include Conservative MPs, (Mark Lancaster, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Nick Hurd, Desmond Swayne, Alistair Burt, and David Mundell), candidates, activists and members.

Andrew said the trip was an important opportunity to experience “the reality of life in a developing country”:

“No one pretends that we’ll be able to achieve more than a very modest amount in a fortnight. But there is no substitute for getting out on the ground and learning at first hand about the challenges of international development.”

He stressed that One World Conservatism, our recent Green Paper on aid and international development, had been shaped, in part, by lessons learned on the ground in Rwanda over the last two years.

(DFID) £16m UK boost to save mothers in Sierra Leone

Pregnant women in Sierra Leone - where more women die giving birth than anywhere else in the world - will be given life-saving health-care thanks to a new UK scheme launched today by International Development Minister, Ivan Lewis.

Currently, women in Sierra Leone are 160 times more likely to die during childbirth compared to women in the UK, with women having a one in six chance of dying in childbirth during their lifetime.

The UK will provide £16 million to support the Government of Sierra Leone's Reproductive and Child Health programme (RCH). The scheme will save tens of thousands of lives by providing training for new midwives, better clinics and access to basic drugs.

Speaking after meeting with the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, in Freetown today, Ivan Lewis said:

"It is shocking that so many mothers die during child-birth in Sierra Leone, leaving children without a mother and families completely devastated. "The lives of many mothers could be saved with access to basic health care and the help of a midwife - things that are normal for us but out-of-reach for the World's poorest.

"It is right that we give people a fighting chance and that is why the UK is taking action to support pregnant women across Africa".

Launched by the President of Sierra Leone in 2008 the ambitious RCH plan is a much needed kick-start and aims to reduce the number of pregnant women and children dying by 30%. The Plan includes a minimum package of essential health services including:

* Basic health care for pregnant women and children under 5
* Increased immunization to prevent measles and tetanus
* Malaria awareness raising campaign and increase use of treated bednets
* Promote basic hygiene to tackle completely preventable deaths from diarrhoeal illnesses