Private Military and Security Companies

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords, is the noble Baroness content that there are adequate RoE and lines of accountability on board merchant vessels if one of those security companies should happen to kill some alleged pirates?

[Baroness Warsi]

I am not sure what the specific answer to that question would be, but I am aware that the whole point of having a code of conduct—and thereafter having international standards against which the code of conduct is implemented, and thereafter having an audit of those standards—is to ensure that there is voluntary acceptance of certain rules of behaviour that have to be applied by all private security companies.