HC Deb 07 November 1956 vol 560 cc2-4W
Mr. Hale

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what record Her Majesty's Government are taking of war crimes and breaches of international law committed during the initiation and continuance of the present armed operations; and whether an undertaking will be given that all war criminals will be brought to trial.

Mr. Dodds-Parker

The military and other authorities concerned will take notice in the usual way of any breaches of the rules regulating the conduct of armed conflicts between nations.

Mr. Hale

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Aide-Mémoire of 23rd April, 1945, from the United Kingdom to the International Court, continues to represent the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

Mr. Dodds-Parker

The Aide-Mémoire referred to is presumably that delivered to the United States Government on 23rd April, 1945, making certain proposals as to the treatment to be extended to Hitler and other Nazi leaders if they should fall into Allied hands. The international court referred to is presumably the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, since the International Court of Justice at The Hague was not at that time in existence.

As a result of negotiations that took place subsequent to the delivery of the Aide-Mémoire of 23rd April, 1945, the Governments of France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States drew up and signed an Agreement in London on 8th August entitled the "Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis", to which was annexed the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

This Agreement represented the policy of the United Kingdom Government with reference to the matters dealt with by the Nuremberg Tribunal, and superseded all previous proposals.