Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to support the prosecution of a non-UK citizen or resident in the UK for indirect involvement in human rights abuses.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for criminal law policy in England and Wales and the UK’s human rights framework. Any human right abuse which is a criminal offence committed in the UK could be prosecuted the same way as any criminal offence and the nationality or residence status of the defendant is irrelevant. Support for such prosecutions is of course a matter primarily for the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales and the Ministry of Justice does not hold that information. If the abuses are criminal offences committed abroad the jurisdiction of our courts will depend on the nature of the offence and whether the relevant statute provides for it to have extraterritorial effect. Again, support for such prosecutions would be a matter for the Crown Prosecution service in England and Wales and its equivalent bodies elsewhere in the UK. Assistance via international police cooperation or Mutual Legal Assistance in such cases is a matter for the Home Office. International matters generally and the International Criminal Court are the responsibility of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.