§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they agree that crimes against humanity, as defined in Article 3 of the Statute of the International Tribunal for Rwanda, and violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II, are crimes of universal jurisdiction, and if so, what arrangements they have made, together with other states, for the collection of witness statements and other evidence, preparatory to bringing charges against Saddam Hussain and his principal lieutenants for these crimes, and in particular for the mass murder by chemical weapons of over 5,000 men, women and children in the town of Halabja on 17th March 1988.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe article of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 providing for the prosecution by all parties or persons alleged to have committed grave breaches of the conventions do not cover breaches of Common Article 3. Additional Protocol 2 to the Geneva Conventions does not contain any provisions for the prosecution of grave breaches. As regards crimes against humanity, there is no international agreement providing for universal jurisdiction over such crimes, though it is proposed that they should form one of the categories of crimes over which the proposed International Criminal Court should have jurisdiction. We are aware that certain organisations are collecting and assessing information relating to events in Halabja in March 1988.