On Sunday November 17, BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times revealed credible evidence of efforts from within the MOD to “cover up” alleged war crimes committed by British troops, including special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The alleged transgressions of international law in Afghanistan demonstrate the need for the UK to establish external oversight of Britain’s special forces.
While other branches of the UK’s armed forces are accountable to Parliament, and UK allies are increasing the accountability and broader public transparency of their special forces, UK policy lags behind. Despite evidence of increased deployments of British special forces over the last two decades, the UK Parliament still has no mechanism to provide oversight. To add to this, the government has maintained a long-held policy not to comment on its special forces – a boiler-plate response ministers employ whenever questions are raised.
This blanket opacity policy can have negative consequences when it comes to providing accountability for harm to civilians where the UK deploys lethal force. However, it also has a significant impact on the UK’s reputation and its efforts to secure military objectives, not to mention for special forces themselves. While representatives of the two major parties appear to agree on the need for such transparency it would be prudent for the next government to pre-empt future scandals by committing to concrete reform.
