§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are proposing to claim reparations against the Argentine in respect of the damage and loss suffered as a result of the Argentine aggression against British territory and ships in and around the Falkland Islands.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, as was stated by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister in another place on 30th July, we reserve the right to claim compensation from Argentina.
§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that not wholly informative reply, may I ask him when the Government intend to announce their decision? And will my noble friend confirm that it is in accordance with international law and precedent that, when aggression is committed by one power on the territory of another, it is normal for that power, when the aggression has been repelled, to make reparations?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, we were wronged by the Argentines in their aggression and would certainly be entitled to claim compensation, as my noble friend says. However, there would be formidable practical difficulties in our securing payment. Our objective throughout the conflict was to restore the rights of the islanders. While we reserve the right to claim compensation, we do not believe that it would serve any useful purpose at this stage to put in such a claim.
§ Lord BeswickMy Lords, would there have been any practical difficulty in requiring the Argentinian forces to clear up the land mines which they had strewn around before they left the islands?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleWe seem to have got beyond that point, my Lords, because there are no Argentine forces on the Falklands.
§ Lord KaldorMy Lords, is there not a danger that any claim made against the Argentines for their aggression might hasten the collapse of the international banking system?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, perhaps that is a little wide of this Question.
§ Lord MonsonMy Lords, will the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, give an assurance that British information services throughout the world are making every effort to draw public attention world-wide to the gross violations of the Geneva Convention by Argentina, including the deliberate desecration of islanders' homes and, above all, the laying of unmarked minefields, to which the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, has just drawn attention?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleYes, my Lords, I am well aware of the point which the noble Lord has made.
Lord Paget of NorthamptonMy Lords, considering that a very remarkable victory has led, or has foreseeably led, only to our behaving as though we had been defeated, what was the point of going there at all?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, there is absolutely no question of our behaving as though we had been defeated. What matters in all this is the rights and future lives of the islanders. Whatever we do and whatever policies we pursue, we will put them in the forefront of our minds.
§ Lord Elystan-MorganMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, has said that a claim is in the process of contemplation; that is what I understand him to have said. If that be the case, will he confirm that at some stage a claim will be made; and, if so, with what authoritative body will that claim be filed?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, misunderstood me. I certainly did not say a claim was in the process of being consulted upon in London or anywhere else; and I am not prepared to speculate on when and whether such a claim may or may not be made.
§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, did my noble friend's first supplementary answer to me and the supplementary answer he has just given suggest that in the view of Her Majesty's Government it would be more economical to commit aggression if one was a bankrupt state?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleNo, my Lords, they suggested nothing of the sort.