Iraq: Kuwaiti Detainees (Hansard, 27 June 1995)

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)
My Lords, we raise this issue at the United Nations at every opportunity and were instrumental in obtaining a progress report from the ICRC to the Security Council which was submitted on 9th June.
We shall continue to play a leading role in the Tripartite Commission and its technical sub-committee. We shall continue to press Iraq to co-operate more fully with the ICRC.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that reply. However, is she aware that during the recent Recess I had occasion to go to Kuwait? I was invited by the Speaker, to whom I spoke, and he expressed his deep appreciation of the British Government's endeavours at the United Nations, particularly those of the noble Baroness. He appreciated the sincere manner in which she answered the questions 604 which I put to her and requested an assurance that we would continue to help all we could. I said that I would mention the matter to the House. I felt sure that the noble Baroness would be prepared to give the assurance that, through its Parliament, Britain would continue to make every effort to ensure that people stolen from Kuwait would be returned to their parents and their homes.

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for the thanks which he has passed on from the Government of Kuwait. We intend to continue our work. We were instrumental in obtaining a progress report from the ICRC. We maintain constant touch with the Kuwaitis and other coalition countries. We made it quite clear to the Iraqis that we expect to see substantive results soon. It is vitally important for relatives of the missing that Iraq should comply so that an end can be put to the period of uncertainty as soon as possible.
However, let us not leave the issue without condemning Iraq for rejecting, for the third time, a scheme which would allow humanitarian goods in, such as food and medicines, in return for the export of some oil. Every time we try to help, the Iraqis refuse to help the Iraqi people.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, has my noble friend any idea how many Kuwaiti civilians are imprisoned at the moment?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I can tell my noble friend that there were 609 inquiry files. So far, we know that the technical sub-committee has discussed 168 of those. I believe that there may be a further 18 people from countries including Saudi Arabia and the Philippines who are also detained, but we do not know where or under what conditions because the ICRC has not been given access to all of them.

§ Lord Hylton
My Lords, is the Minister aware that Kuwaitis are not the only hostages now in Iraq? Are not many Kurds in that position, including some imprisoned before the start of the Iraq/Iran war?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I regret to say that the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, is undoubtedly right. We have no idea of the numbers, nor where those people are held. However, every time the ICRC goes in, for one reason or another, it will obviously try to find out about all people who may be illegally detained by Iraq.

§ Lord Avebury
My Lords, is the Minister aware that a powerful lobby is organised, I suppose by Iraq, to try to persuade people in this country that the resolutions of the United Nations are to be rejected? That includes the latest and most generous arrangements to allow Iraq to sell oil so as to acquire humanitarian goods. It is suggested that the West is responsible for the deaths of babies and other kinds of humanitarian disasters within Iraq. Will the Minister place in the Library whatever documents she has which show the reasonableness of the offers that have been made by the Security Council and the benefits that would accrue to children, nursing mothers and other victims of the blockade if the Iraqis were prepared to accept the generous offer?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, for picking up the point. He is absolutely right that some Iraqis are setting out to deny the benefits of United Nations Resolution 986. It would allow Iraq to export oil in return for other humanitarian goods. Again, I underline that medicines and food can go into Iraq; they are not caught by the embargo. It is the additional help which the West wishes to give for the sake of the Iraqi people that is caught. I am not sure that an exact document exists, but one can certainly be drafted so that it could be placed in the Library, and I shall do that.

§ Lord Archer of Sandwell
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that the arranging of meetings, postponing them and then claiming that they were never arranged, is part of a policy of procrastination by the Iraqi Government in the hope that the rest of the world will grow weary and lose interest? Will she give an undertaking that that policy will not work and that the questions will continue until either the prisoners have been released or there has been an honest account of what has become of them?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I hope that the world will never grow weary of fighting the cause of human rights for people placed in such intolerable positions by Saddam and other Iraqis. It is for that reason that we are so determined to spread democracy across the world so that other parliaments, like our own, can raise these issues at every possible point, keep the issues alive and make sure that Iraq knows that it will receive no mercy until it shows mercy to those it detained illegally.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, is the Minister aware that when those of us in the delegation saw the terrible grief and sorrow we could not understand why, despite the efforts of this country and the United States of America, the United Nations does not seem to move at all? Is it doing anything whatever? Does the United Nations organisation really exist for times like this?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, this is a particular and very difficult problem. In his most recent report to the Security Council, the United Nations UNSCOM ambassador, Ralph Ekeus, made clear what was going on. There has been some progress on accounting for past chemical weapons and ballistic missile programmes, but significant gaps remain on biological weapons. In addition, no progress has been made over those detained. While I sympathise with the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Molloy, that the UN may not seem to have the necessary mechanism, the UN only has the mechanism that the General Assembly gives to it. We should never forget that.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the last time my noble friend asked this Question she said that the lack of progress on this matter was unacceptable? That was three months ago, and there has still been no further progress. I accept that the UK Government play a role in the tripartite commission and in the technical sub-committee in trying to speed up the review of these cases. However, in relation to the 168 606 cases that have been considered, have any concessions at all been made by the Iraqis with respect to their future release?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I am as anxious as is the noble Baroness for progress for these poor people and for their relatives. Of the 609 inquiry files, I mentioned that 168 had been discussed. Iraq has presented what one might term intermediate results on 70 of those 168 cases. The mortal remains of one person were repatriated from Iraq to Kuwait. We know that Kuwait has now closed two files that it had submitted to the ICRC, and two other files have been withdrawn. We shall go on pressing. But there is no unilateral action that can be taken. We have to work with fellow members of the United Nations and the European Union to continue the pressure in whatever way is possible.