Ukraine: War Crimes Allegations

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Monday 4th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, there is a lot of detail to be shared in answering the noble Lord’s questions. We are certainly working very closely with Sir Howard Morrison, who was appointed by my right honourable friend the Attorney-General in conjunction with the Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General of Ukraine. We are working very closely in resourcing and supporting, including with technical and financial support. On the ICC prosecution, we have already allocated an initial £1 million to the ICC investigation to cover some set-up costs. We are meeting the ICC prosecutor regularly in establishing the technical support, and are looking at IT support. The offer that we have given also ranges from police and military analysis to specialist IT help, which is all helping the ICC to collect and preserve evidence. Of course, in the UK, the Met police has set up access and channel points to collect evidence from Ukrainians who are arriving here.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, when the investigations have taken place and conclusions have been reached, will the Government ensure that, by one means or another, these conclusions are passed to certain countries—even Commonwealth countries like India—that are all too ready to give the benefit of any doubt to the Russians in this conflict?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, that is why we are working very closely on ensuring that the work of the ICC has as wide a scope as possible. That means also securing the support of a wide range of countries. Indeed, when we first approached the ICC, 30-odd countries were supportive of this; that has now gone up to 40. I hear what the noble Lord says about the wider Commonwealth, and I am sure that, with the CHOGM that will take place in Rwanda in June, this will be one of the issues that will continue to dominate the discussions of the Commonwealth leaders.