---

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his written answer of 26 May 2004, Official Report, column 1636W, on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whether, in his meeting with the President of the ICRC in Geneva on 18 March, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (a) was made aware of and (b) raised the issue of allegations concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq by Coalition forces other than British forces. [179099] Mr. Straw: The President of the ICRC, Dr. Kellenberger did mention briefly to my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Rammell) in their meeting on 18 March that the February ICRC report contained allegations concerning treatment of detainees by forces other than UK forces, though naturally the part of their discussion which covered detainees in Iraq focused on specific allegations against UK forces. The Minister discussed the concerns raised by Dr. Kellenberger with officials on his return to London. Officials had already received assurances that US investigations were under way into allegations of abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

179099; 422 c991-2W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Abuse Detainees Iraq Prisoners Peacekeeping operations International Red Cross

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk