Syria: Chemical Weapons

Lord Campbell of Pittenweem Excerpts

Wednesday 5th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

I welcome the right reverend Prelate’s question and I certainly give that commitment. At the moment my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary is in Brussels at the Syria conference, where the objective is to get the international community not only to deliver on the commitments it made in London last year but to take those further, for the long-term support of the region.

[Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (LD)]

My Lords, it is axiomatic that if these events came about as a result of deliberate action, they constitute a war crime. Will the Minister bear in mind that, even if they were not deliberate, they constitute a war crime, since they came about because of the indiscriminate bombing of civilians?

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

The noble Lord is absolutely right.