UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday urged the UK Parliament to amend the proposed new Overseas Operations Bill, which, in its current form, risks undermining key human rights obligations of the UK by “shielding its military personnel operating abroad from due accountability for acts of torture or other serious international crimes.”

The Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, according to its explanatory notes, aims to “provide greater certainty for Service personnel and veterans in relation to claims and potential prosecution for historical events, that occurred in the complex environment of armed conflict overseas.” However, according to Bachelet, under its current form, the bill would make it substantially less likely that UK service members on overseas operations would be held accountable for serious human rights violations amounting to international crimes. She further stated:

In its present form, the proposed legislation raises substantial questions about the UK’s future compliance with its international obligations, particularly under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), as well as the 1949 Geneva Conventions. These include obligations to prevent, investigate and prosecute acts such as torture and unlawful killing, and make no distinction as to when the offenses were committed.

The bill seeks to introduce a formal presumption against prosecution and requires prosecutors to “give particular weight” to certain matters, such as the conditions that service members were exposed to during deployment, in relations to criminal proceedings for overseas offenses that were committed by service members before five years of the date of trial.

The bill further requires the consent of the Attorney General in order for prosecutions of such crimes that were committed more than five years earlier to proceed. Finally, it places a duty on the Secretary of State to consider any possible derogations from its international human rights obligations as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights by allowing the bill’s provisions to have primacy over the UK’s human rights obligations.

The bill is currently being debated before the House of Lords, where peers recently voted to halt the passage of the bill in its current form until proposed amendments to the bill are approved.