Clause 2 - Request for arrest and surrender
International Criminal Court Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 19, after `demonstrate', insert `beyond reasonable doubt'.
The clause covers the circumstances in which the Government are required to act on a request from the International Criminal Court for an individual to be arrested, or to secure his or her surrender to that court. That request may refer to someone who is accused of committing a crime, as defined by the statute, or who has been convicted by the court and is not in custody. Subsection (4) sets out the documentation that could accompany the request when someone has been convicted, but the request has not been accompanied by a warrant. If we wanted to examine the source material on which the subsection is based, we would go to article 91.3 of the statute. As I am sure the Minister appreciates, the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that no person should be subject to arrest and detention unless he or she has been shown to criminal standards of proof to be the person identified in the request. The amendment is simple.
The matter was discussed in another place, but I felt that it was apposite to return to it at this stage because it deals with a convicted individual, rather than one who is, say, only accused and thus is facing an earlier stage in a trial by the ICC. The amendment would ensure that the best care and attention is given to establishing that the person sought is the self-same person to whom the judgment refers. The highest standard of proof should be a requirement before an officer issues a warrant for arrest.
From following the debate in the other place, I know that there is some sympathy for that line of thinking. We have tabled the amendment to give the Minister the opportunity to re-examine that part of the Bill. If the amendment is accepted, it will provide protection for an individual over whose identity a sufficient element of doubt existed, and will avoid a situation where, although an individual's identity was in question, he could still find himself handed over to the ICC.
This debate will be extremely useful and will put on record the views of the Government and concerns about the Bill. The individuals with which this part of the Bill deals could face a long period of incarceration and could have been convicted, under the statute, of some heinous crimes. It is doubly important that we ensure that someone who has already been convicted is the same person to whom the sentence is applicable. I fully acknowledge that in another place the Attorney-General, Lord Williams of Mostyn, was unprepared to accept either the amendment or the reasonable suggestion of replacing the phrase ``beyond reasonable doubt'' with the words ``more likely than not''.
It is important to hear the Minister's reply. By refusing to accept ``beyond reasonable doubt'' and to consider the helpful suggestion of ``more likely than not'', it is implied that even if the court and its officers were less than 50 per cent. sure that the identity of the person before them was the same as that of the convicted individual, the court would still have to hand that person over.
The purpose of the amendment is to seek reassurances and put them on the record, while trying to persuade the Minister to accept an amendment that is, I believe, reasonable. A high standard of proof should be required before the judicial officer issues the warrant. I hope that the Minister agrees that it is important for the courts to make sure that the right person is surrendered. It is highly desirable that the standard of proof should be ``beyond reasonable doubt''.