§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps were taken following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Irelandv. United Kingdom (1978) to outlaw the use of the five techniques of interrogation found to be in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention. [174550]
§ Mr. IngramIn 1978 the Government's presentation to the European Court of Human Rights set out that the then Prime Minister had declared on 2 March 1972,Official Report, columns 743–44, that "the techniques…will not be used in future as an aid to interrogation" and that directives expressly prohibiting the use of the techniques for interrogation, whether singly or in combination, had been issued in April 1972. The Government also gave the Court an unqualified undertaking that the techniques of hooding, wall standing, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and white noise would not in an any circumstances be reintroduced as an aid to interrogation.
Given that the necessary directives had been issued in April 1972, no further steps were deemed necessary following the Court's judgment.