HL Deb 04 February 1991 vol 525 cc37-8WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the position in international law relating to the use of "conventional" weapons against

  1. (a) nuclear facilities;
  2. (b) chemical weapons plants and dumps, and
  3. (c) petrochemical enterprises situated in towns or cities,
when such use may release radioactivity, toxic chemicals, or firestorms, on a scale comparable to the use of nuclear, chemical, and other weapons deemed to be weapons of mass destruction.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (The Earl of Caithness)

International law requires that, in planning an attack on any military objective, account is taken of certain principles. These include the principles that civilian losses, whether of life or property, should be avoided or minimised so far as practicable, and that an attack should not be launched if it can be expected to cause civilian losses which would be disproportionate to the military advantage expected from the attack as a whole.

Inevitably there is a risk of civilian losses when nuclear, biological or chemical research and production facilities or storage sites are attacked, depending upon where these have been located in relation to civilian areas. But in the instance of the present conflict in the Gulf, for example, the objective of securing that weapons deriving from such installations shall not be used against Allied forces or against civilian populations may be balanced against this risk.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether it is the case, as stated by Mr. Bessmertnykh, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, after his telephone conversations with Mr. Baker, the United States Secretary of State, during the night of January 17th, that US attacks during that night included among their targets a nuclear centre south of Baghdad, chemical weapons plants and dumps, and petro-chemical enterprises, and if so whether the results of these attacks are being properly monitored to establish whether radioac-tivity, toxic chemicals, etc. were released on to the civilian population.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (The Earl of Arran)

Coalition forces have attacked a number of petrochemical facilities. As General Schwarzkopf said on 30th January, they have also attacked 31 of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological facilities with precision guided munitions and have severely damaged or destroyed over half of them. These attacks were carefully researched and planned and took into account prevailing conditions and the design and construction of the facilities. The methods used were designed to minimise the risk of contamination outside the sites. Any remaining risk must be balanced against the risk of Iraq using these weapons against coalition forces or against civilian populations.