26 OCTOBER 2009

Closure of loophole in UK legislation on genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes

A series of government amendments moved today at the Report Stage of the Coroners and Justice Bill will close off a loophole in UK legislation which has hitherto allowed those suspected of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to escape being brought to justice. It will also bring UK legislation much closer to that in the US, Canada and Australia - all common law countries.

At present, anyone suspected of these crimes cannot be prosecuted if the crimes took place before 2001 or if they are not formally resident in this country. The new amendments have pushed this back to 1991, thereby allowing prosecutions relating to the Rwandan genocide and the wars in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

They also greatly extend the concept of ‘residence’ in the UK. ‘Residence’ now includes those in the UK who have leave to remain or who have applied for such leave; those who come here to work or study; those who make an asylum claim; those who cannot be removed or deported to their country of origin; those who have a deportation order against them and are appealing against it; and any individual who is detained in lawful custody in the UK.

This expanded definition is vital to counteract the shortcomings of current legislation, dramatised earlier this year when the deportation of a group of Rwandans, suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide, was ruled out by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that they would not receive a fair trial in Rwanda. It then transpired that they also could not be tried in the UK because they did not meet the definition of residence.

The amendments have come after sustained pressure by a cross-party group of back bench peers, which included UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay of Chiswick, and organisations such as UNA-UK, the Aegis Trust and REDRESS.

Speaking after today’s session in the House of Lords, Lord Hannay commended the government, saying that the new legislation will ‘send out a strong signal to all those suspected of involvement in these appalling crimes, that they cannot expect to find a safe haven in the UK’.