§ Sir Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the implications of the Loizidou case, concerning Turkey's acts in Northern Cyprus, in relation to the applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights to the actions of UK personnel in Iraq. [171556]
§ Mr. Straw[holding answer 17 May 2004]: The applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to the actions of UK personnel in Iraq is a matter which is in issue in the current cases before 1084W the High Court brought by the families of 13 Iraqi civilians. The Government's position in those cases is that ECHR rights have no application in Iraq. The citizens of Cyprus, prior to invasion by Turkey, were the beneficiaries of rights under the ECHR, by virtue of Cyprus' membership of the Council of Europe. The decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Loizidou was to the effect that they did not lose those rights when Turkey assumed sole effective control of part of the territory of Cyprus. The position in Iraq, of course, is critically different. The citizens of Iraq had no rights at all under the ECHR prior to military action by the coalition forces; furthermore, the UK does not exercise the same degree of control over Iraq as existed in relation to the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus.