Another story about the natural concern of many military personnel for local staff who worked with them in the field, and are now in special danger because of their employment with coalition forces.

Soldier's fight to bring Iraqi translator to US

"The soldiers were always good to me, but I'm surprised at this. I had no idea it would all turn out so badly."

Below is yet another report about the plight of former local staff who worked for British forces in Iraq. BAFF continues to support the campaign on behalf of those former local staff who are at greatest risk because of their work for UK forces and agencies. BAFF has given practical help to the campaign, such as obtaining comparative data and documents about the more generous treatment of the issue by allied countries such as Denmark, and more recently, helping to trace a potential witness.

Iinquests have raised a number of important issues affecting bereaved families, and sometimes also affecting serving personnel who might be subject to criticism or blame for their actions.

BAFF continues to argue for the availability of some form of legal aid to enable bereaved service families to be legally represented and advised at inquests, or fatal accident inquiries (FAI) in Scotland. We think that all bereaved families should have access to legal representation and advice, but service-related inquests can raise specialised issues, and often - unlike many "civilian" families - without any prospect of eventually recovering the costs as part of a compensation settlement.

The families of people who have died in police custody or in prison are in several respects treated better than bereaved service families.
There is also growing concern at the position of individual service personnel who may feature prominently in inquests as a result of their service duties - but may not receive any assistance from the Ministry of Defence in regard to the cost of legal representation or advice.

Lawyers instructed by the MOD naturally attend the inquest to represent the Ministry, not the serving individuals involved. Their line of questioning and argument is often designed to show that standing instructions were in place but not properly followed - without much regard to the interests of serving individuals.

Inquests have also raised important questions relating to the applicability of human rights to armed forces personnel while deployed on combat missions.

From Mr Justice Collins' judgement in the Jason Smith inquest case (see links opposite):

But the soldier does not lose all protection simply because he is in hostile territory carrying out dangerous operations. Thus, for example, to send a soldier out on patrol or, indeed, into battle with defective equipment could constitute a breach of Article 2*.

If I may take a historical illustration, the failures of the commissariat and the failures to provide any adequate medical attention in the Crimean War would whereas the Charge of the Light Brigade would not be regarded as a possible breach of Article 2.

So the protection of Article 2 is capable of extending to a member of the armed forces wherever he or she may be; whether it does will depend on the circumstances of the particular case.

* Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights - the "right to life"

Corporate Manslaughter

In any debate about the applicability of the right to life and the duty of care in operational theatres, it should be noted that certain "military activities" are excluded from the scope of the criminal offence created by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. Furthermore, a wide range of operational military activities will be exclusively public functions within the terms of section 3(2) of the Act and so exempt from the offence.

The "military activities" exemption is contained in section 4 of the Act:

4.  Military activities

(1) Any duty of care owed by the Ministry of Defence in respect of—

(a) operations within subsection (2),

(b) activities carried on in preparation for, or directly in support of, such operations, or

(c) training of a hazardous nature, or training carried out in a hazardous way, which it is considered needs to be carried out, or carried out in that way, in order to improve or maintain the effectiveness of the armed forces with respect to such operations,
is not a “relevant duty of care”.

(2) The operations within this subsection are operations, including peacekeeping operations and operations for dealing with terrorism, civil unrest or serious public disorder, in the course of which members of the armed forces come under attack or face the threat of attack or violent resistance.

(3) Any duty of care owed by the Ministry of Defence in respect of activities carried on by members of the special forces is not a “relevant duty of care”.

(4) In this section “the special forces” means those units of the armed forces the maintenance of whose capabilities is the responsibility of the Director of Special Forces or which are for the time being subject to the operational command of that Director.

• Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
• Explanatory Notes to Corporate Manslaughter And Corporate Homicide Act 2007

external links

• Herald, 19/07/08, Killed soldiers ‘wearing wrong armour’ An inquest heard that two soldiers who were killed by enemy action in Afghanistan while manning a defensive position were wearing "incorrect" equipment which was not authorised by unit standing orders for use while in contact with the enemy. While there was evidence that the men would have died anyway even if they had been using the correct equipment, which had been issued to them, the coroner said "What concerns me is the standing order was not followed. Those soldiers should not have been in the position they were without the appropriate equipment. If they are issued with the correct equipment, but are later found not to be wearing it, that represents a failure in the chain of command."
• Telegraph, 21/06/08: Families of troops killed in Snatch Land Rovers to sue MoD
• Telegraph, 11/07/08: MOD in £3m abuse pay-out to Baha Mousa and nine other Iraqi 'torture' victims: "The settlement follows a statement by Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence in March when he admitted the Army had breached Article 2, the right to life, and Article 3, the prohibition of torture, in the European Convention on Human Rights."

Conservative Party's Military Covenant Commission

In their interim report issued on 17 June 2008, the Conservative Party's " Military Covenant Commission" chaired by author Frederick Forsyth deplored the backlog of military inquests said to be currently standing at 90 cases. The Commission also recommended that the Ministry of Defence should be banned from hiring barristers to defend it at military inquests.

• Military Covenant Commission

Pte Jason Smith inquest

• BBC 11/4/08 - Human rights 'apply to UK troops' Includes link to video clip of Des Browne rejecting 'defective equipment' claims, and explaining decision to appeal against the court's judgment.
• Guardian 11/4/08 - Faulty army gear may breach human rights, court rules (Guardian)
• Times, 16/4/08 - The Law Explored: human rights on the battlefield
• Judgement of Collins J in Smith v Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire & Secretary of State for Defence NB - the Secretary of State for Defence is appealing against the judgment.
• Times Law Reports 30/05/08 - Convention applies to Armed Forces on service outside the jurisdiction
• Short report from Weekly Law Reports
• Article by solicitor representing Jason Smith's family

Coroner reform

• Ministry of Justice 18/06/08 - Coroner reform - draft charter for the bereaved.
• ePolitix.com 26/06/08 - Ministers defend plans for coroners' system
• Ministry of Justice - draft Coroners Bill index

Boards of Inquiry and Service Inquiries

Board of Inquiry were replaced on 1 Oct 2008 by a new harmonised system of "service inquiry" introduced under section 343 of the Armed Forces Act 2006.

• Ministry of Defence - Boards of Inquiry index (HMS Tireless 20th March 2007 BOI report published 11/06/08)
• MOD booklet - Board of Inquiry and Coroners' Inquests (published 08/02/08)

Corporate Manslaughter

• Institute of Occupational Safety and Health: Army takes aim at corporate manslaughter challenge
• The Crown Prosecution Service - Corporate Manslaughter

Please note that this is an archived article, and that the rules about Commonwealth recruitment have changed from time to time.

Anyone who is already serving or has served in the UK armed forces can apply to join the British Armed Forces Federation including, of course, those of Commonwealth or foreign nationality.

From Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour Conference:

... and let me talk today about how we will do more to support the great British institutions that best define this country.

The first is the one I spoke about in detail on Sunday when I talked about the mission of our brave men and women in Afghanistan.

The heroism of our fighting men and women is unsurpassed and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. And let us on behalf of the British people pay tribute to them and their courage today.

The British armed forces truly are the finest in the world. And let us say to them – all British forces will always have all the equipment they need and the best support we can give.

And conference let me say, Britain will work with President Obama and 40 other countries for peace and stability for the people of Afghanistan, and to make sure that terrorism doesn’t come to the streets of Britain.

From Harriet Harman's speech to the Labour Conference:

The lives of women today - and their hopes and ambitions are different from our mothers’. And that is the case

whether you are a girl school leaver in Scotland

or a young mother in Wales

whether you are one of the thousands of wives of our armed forces.

The wives of our servicemen have always held things together at home. And their task has become even more demanding with the men away fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Just like every other woman, service wives want to, and need to, get training, get work, find childcare. But that’s hard if your family has to move regularly and if you are on a base miles away from your parents and in-laws. That’s why Bob Ainsworth, the Secretary of State for Defence, and I are working with ministers across government to make sure that as well as doing all we can to support our armed forces, We are helping our armed forces wives’ so they don’t lose out on new opportunities to get on in their work. Our navy, airforce and soldiers make a great sacrifice for our country and we back them up. Their wives, too, make an enormous personal sacrifice for this country and we will back them up too.

From a Liberal Democrat press release:

MP LEADS CALL FOR A FAIR DEAL FOR OUR FORCES

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Sep 2009

Hampshire MP, Sandra Gidley, has led Liberal Democrat calls for a fair deal for the men and women of Britain's armed forces at the party's conference in Bournemouth.

Sandra, whose father served in the army, and whose constituency is home to the School of Army Flying, urged delegates to the Liberal Democrat conference to back a motion for better housing for our soldiers, and better access to education for their children.

based on a September 2009 article on the NAPO website: Veterans in the CJS - NAPO

Veterans in the CJS

Details

Category: Forces personnel news

Published: 27 September 2009