Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Written Evidence


Letter to the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, from the Clerk of the Committee

  The Committee has noted the statement in the letter to the Chairman from Ian Pearson dated 8 December[1] that he has written to the Foreign Secretary about private military companies and that the review following the Green Paper on regulation of these companies is continuing. The Committee has asked me to write with some specific questions, to which it desires answers in the New Year.

    —  What are the rules of engagement which currently apply to personnel working for companies under contract to provide security services to HMG in Iraq?

    —  What criminal law currently applies: (a) to personnel working for companies under contract to provide security services to HMG in Iraq, (b) to personnel working for British companies under contract to provide security services to other governments or to international bodies in Iraq and (c) to British citizens working for foreign companies under contract to provide security services to other governments or to international bodies in Iraq?

    —  Is there a standard form of contract for companies which provide security services to HMG in Iraq? If so, may the Committee have a copy? If not, may the Committee receive examples of indemnity clauses from such contracts, with any commercial in confidence information removed?

    —  How is compliance by private companies with the terms of contracts for the supply of security services to HMG in Iraq monitored?

  I would be grateful to receive a response to this letter not later than 12 January.

Steve Priestley

Clerk of the Committee

14 December 2005






1   See Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2005-06, Human Rights Annual Report 2005, HC 574, Ev 67. Back


 
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