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27 Mar 2002 : Column WA45

Written Answers

Wednesday, 27th March 2002.

Lord Chancellor: Exercise of Judicial Functions

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they consider that the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 26 February 2000 in Morris v United Kingdom that proceedings in relation to courts martial are in breach of the right to an independent and impartial tribunal protected by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights has implications for the exercise of judicial functions by the Lord Chancellor.[HL3305]

The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): No. The two specific grounds on which the European Court found against the United Kingdom in this case have no implications for the exercise of judicial functions by the Lord Chancellor.

House of Lords Reform: Life Peers

Lord Monson asked Her Majesty's Government:

    (a) how they reconcile the statement in paragraph 94 of the White Paper on completing the reform of the House of Lords that, "The Royal Commission recommended that current life peers should retain their membership of the House for life", with Recommendation 103 in the Report of the Royal Commission, "that life peers created between the publication of this Report and the enactment of the legislation necessary to implement the second stage of Lords reform should be deemed to have been appointed to the reformed second chamber for a period totalling 15 years from the award of their life peerage;

    (b) why they have not accepted Recommendation 103 of the report; and

    (c) how many persons of each of the three major political parties have been appointed life Peers since the date of the publication of the report.[HL3476]

The Lord Chancellor: The White Paper made a shorthand reference to the basic proposition of the Royal Commission; namely, that existing life Peers should retain their right to life membership. That is what the Royal Commission proposed for the vast majority of existing life Peers. The Government rejected the proposal in Recommendation 103, that life Peers appointed after the publication of the Royal Commission's report should be deemed to have been appointed for 15 years, on the same grounds as led the Royal Commission to make its basic proposition contained in Recommendation 102. At the time of

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appointment, those life Peers would reasonably expect that their appointment would have been for life, given that the Government had made no announcement that it intended to seek to implement Recommendation 103. Since 20 January 2000, there have been 34 creations of Labour life Peers, 11 Conservatives and 14 Liberal Democrats, with creation being defined as the issue of a first Writ of Summons after that date. Labour still has 21 fewer Members of the House than the Conservatives.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How many retired members of the RUC have been employed in any capacity by the Police Service of NI or its related support units.[HL3291]

The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The PSNI would be required to conduct a manual trawl through personnel files which would entail disproportionate cost to establish how many members of its staff are retired police officers.

West Bank and Gaza

The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they consider the West Bank and Gaza to be covered by the European Union-Israel Association Agreement; if so, whether they are satisfied that Israel is keeping to Article 2 of the agreement; and, if not, what measures they have taken to ensure that products originating from settlements not in Israel are not imported into the United Kingdom under preferential tariffs.[HL3149]

The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean): The UK, along with the rest of our EU partners, does not consider the West Bank and Gaza to be covered by the trade provisions of the EU/Israel Association Agreement. The West Bank and Gaza are incorporated in a separate interim preferential trade agreement between the EC and the Palestinian Authority.

The European Union has insisted in its discussions with the Israeli authorities that the territorial scope of the EU/Israel Agreement must be respected. The European Commission has undertaken technical discussions with Israel in search of a solution to this issue. The Commission has also published, in November 2001, a notice to importers in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This notice alerted EC importers of the ineligibility of products originating in the Occupied Territories for the preferences provided by the EU/Israel Association Agreement.

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HMC&E, with other member states' customs authorities are verifying the origin of certain products. If these products are found to have originated in the Occupied Territories HMC&E may request a guarantee against the difference between the preferential tariff and the normal tariff applied to these goods.

Article 2 of the agreement states that, "Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreements itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy, and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement." Israel is in addition bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

We understand the intense political pressures on the Israeli Government to respond to repeated suicide bombings and our condemnation of terrorism in all its forms is unequivocal. Israel has the right, like all states, to takes measures in self-defence. However, Israel's response must be proportionate and avoid civilian casualties. We therefore have concerns with certain measures implemented by Israel in response to the current intifada, including the practice of extra-judicial killings, the imposition of the closures and the destruction of Palestinian homes and agricultural land. Both bilaterally and through the EU, we have made these concerns clear and urged Israel to cease such practices.

Camp X-Ray: UK Detainees

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they consider that the British citizens detained by the public authorities of the United States at Camp X-Ray are within the jurisdiction of the United States for purposes of Article 2 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, so as to be entitled to the enjoyment of the protection of the rights recognising the covenant.[HL3261]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: Under Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights each state party to the covenant undertakes to respect and ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognised in the covenant. The applicability of a particular provision of either the ICCPR or, alternatively, of international humanitarian law, will depend on the status of the individual concerned and the circumstances of his detention.

The question of the detainees' status, access to them and the legal procedure to which they might be subject are complex. In response to our approaches, the US Government have given us the assurance that they would treat all UK detainees humanely and consistently with the principles of the Geneva Convention.

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Israel Defence Force: Use of UK-supplied Equipment

Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether they have evidence from non-governmental organisations or others that equipment, weapons and ammunition supplied by the United Kingdom to Israel have been used for attacks on civilians, premises belonging to the Palestinian Authority and institutions funded by the European Union or the United Nations within the Occupied Territories.[HL3270]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: We have received no evidence that equipment manufactured in the UK and licensed for export by this Government has been used by Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories during the recent and continuing violence. Most UK exports have been components for pieces of technology, which can be embedded in other systems and are therefore not visible. The UK has not licensed for export main equipment such as tanks, aircraft, warships or artillery to Israel since May 1997.

However, on 11 March, my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs the Member for Exeter informed the House of Commons that new information had come to light that UK-supplied equipment licensed for export under a previous administration, and a different export control regime, is being used by the Israelis in the Occupied Territories. This relates to a number of Centurion tanks, exported to Israel between 1958 and 1970, which the Israelis have modified into armoured personnel carriers.

This contradicts a written assurance that the Israel Government gave us on 29 November 2000 that "no UK originated equipment nor any UK originated systems/sub-systems/components are used as part of the Israel Defence Force's activities in the Territories". We have urgently sought an explanation from the Israeli Government. We shall inform both Houses of the outcome.

We consider all export licence applications to Israel on a case by case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria, taking careful account on a case by case basis of the nature of the equipment and the proposed end-use and end-user.


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