§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what opportunities will exist for United Kingdom citizens including serving or former members of the armed forces involved in Operation Granby in the Gulf war in 1991, to claim for damages for deleterious health effects from the United Nations Compensation Committee.
§ Mr. HanleyThe United Nations Compensation Commission—UNCC—will consider, against established criteria, claims from United Kingdom citizens suffering from deleterious health effects directly caused by Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait between 2 August 1990 and 2 March 1991. It will require evidence to show that there is a direct causative link between the symptoms of the claimant and the Gulf conflict.
This right to claim extends to members of the allied coalition armed forces, who were prisoners of war and whose loss or injury resulted from mistreatment in violation of the international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Most of the British prisoners of war held captive during the Gulf conflict have put in claims, as have members of the British liaison team, and their dependents, who were in Kuwait at the time of the invasion.