HL Deb 22 March 1994 vol 553 cc579-80

Lord Molloy asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will, as a matter of urgency, ask the United Nations to take steps to secure the release of all Kuwaiti prisoners, both military and civilian, taken by Iraq during the Gulf war and not yet released.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)

My Lords, as the noble Lord will be aware from my answers to his previous questions, we raise the plight of Kuwaiti and other detainees at the United Nations whenever the Security Council reviews sanctions against Iraq. We last did so on 17th March. We shall continue to raise it in the Security Council until Iraq complies with its obligations under Security Council Resolutions 686 and 687 to co-operate with the International Committee of the Red Cross in its attempts to gather information on Kuwaiti and other nationals remaining in Iraq.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, I am most grateful for that very informative Answer and for the spirit in which the Minister gave it. Is the Minister aware that the Kuwaitis have a passionate love for this United Kingdom because we and the Americans gave them back their country? Is she also aware that they are now suffering a new threat in that they are discovering that thousands of men, women and children are being taken by Saddam's army back to Iraq where they are suffering under appalling conditions? Could we, with our colleagues in the free world, try to do something about that dreadful and appalling situation?

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

My Lords, the noble Lord is right. We have excellent relations with the Kuwaiti people at all levels. We know how hard they have tried to regularise the situation. However, as the noble Lord said, that is not the case on the Iraqi side of the border. Although the ICRC representative visited Baghdad last December to urge Iraq to respond to earlier requests for information, Iraq has so far failed to reply in any way. We passed detailed case files to Iraq as long ago as January last year. I assure the noble Lord that we shall keep up the pressure.

Baroness Blackstone

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House how many Kuwaitis and other nationals who were seized after the Gulf war are still in captivity? Can she also say whether the International Committee of the Red Cross or any other humanitarian organisation has access to those prisoners and, if not, whether representations have been made to the Iraqi Government about that?

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

My Lords, representations have been made to the Iraqi Government. Although the ICRC is the key organisation dealing with Iraq in these matters, it certainly cannot visit all the prisoners. We reckon that there are something over 600 such prisoners, but there are other estimates of much higher numbers. One of the great difficulties is that when the ICRC organised a meeting involving the tripartite commission (the US, the UK and France), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the Iraqis failed to send a representative. It is extremely hard to make any progress on this matter, but we shall go on trying.

Lord Rea

My Lords, does the Minister agree with Amnesty International that a number of Iraqi citizens who were living in Kuwait at the time of the Gulf war have been imprisoned without trial or with inadequate trial? Would not the case of the Kuwaitis be rather better if those people—if they exist —were given proper justice?

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

My Lords, like the noble Lord, I too have heard those accusations. Although we are not aware of persons being held without trial, I shall look again into what the noble Lord has said because I repeatedly hear the same accusation although I cannot find any justification for it so far.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein are almost without parallel? Does she agree that there is also the terrible agony of people who have had their children, brothers, husbands or wives stolen by Saddam Hussein and taken back to Iraq? They know that their families are suffering appallingly from terrible threats as well as by being punished and tortured for trivialities. Does the Minister accept that there is that second agony in the minds of those Kuwaitis who have lost loved ones and who are therefore enduring a living death because of the villainous behaviour of Saddam Hussein?

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

My Lords, I must say to the noble Lord that Saddam Hussein's actions are without parallel. They are not "almost without parallel"; they are definitely without parallel. It is perfectly true that that appalling brutality and disregard for the welfare of the Iraqi people led to Security Council Resolution 688 in 1991. That resolution has not been complied with.

Back to