Former UK Employees in Iraq take Government to Court for refusing to assist them
09 September 2008
The Scheme was set up by David Miliband in October 2007 in response to widespread public outcry at the way in which interpreters and other former employees had been left in the lurch by the British with their lives at risk from hostile militias who view them as collaborators.[ii]
The three fled their jobs and Iraq after receiving specific threats from the militias and have been refused entry onto the Scheme for reasons ranging from the fact that they did not resign through the proper channels to failure to complete a full 12 months service. One individual fled after his father, a longstanding employee, was tortured and murdered and his home attacked. He worked with his father but has been refused because he was only formally employed for 5 months before the murder.
Richard Stein of Leigh Day & Co, who represents the group of Iraqis said: “This is a classic example of the Government seeking to put to bed a political problem without any due consideration for the human story which caused the problem. The Scheme is arbitrary, disingenuous and patently unfair. It should be quashed and replaced with a scheme which takes true account of the debt owed to these men and their families.”
For more information please contact Nisha Patel on 020 7650 1200 or Jamie Beagent on 020 7650 1240
[i] The hearing will take place in the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. The Court
number and time of the hearing will be announced on the Court Service website
on the afternoon of the 9 September: The claimants have been anonymised to
protect them from reprisals. The case
will be listed as “The Queen on the application of WA, AA & CK-v-The
Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs – CO/2175/08”. A copy of the Claimants’ legal arguments can
be downloaded from www.leighday.co.uk
[ii] On 9 October 2007 David Miliband announced
the Locally Employed Staff Assistance Scheme (“the Scheme”) in response to
widespread public outrage, much of it emanating from the soldiers who had
worked alongside these brave individuals.
The UK
was seen to be abandoning its former employees to their fate. On 8 August 2007
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, conceded that the UK had a duty of care
towards those employees but pressure continued to mount until Miliband’s
announcement.
The
Locally Employed Staff Assistance Scheme (“the Scheme”) would have
enabled them to relocate to the UK with their families or receive a cash
payment instead.
The
announcement was clearly intended to deflect this criticism and appeared to do
its job. However, when the full details
of the Scheme were announced on 30 October 2007 it became apparent that it had
been drafted far more narrowly than the impression that had been given. These fears have been realised and Leigh Day
& Co have been contacted by a large number of former Iraqi interpreters and
other employees who have been rejected from the Scheme, the majority of them
now destitute in Syria having fled Iraqi.
Information was correct at time of publishing. See terms and conditions for further details.
