Overseas Operations Act 2021

The Overseas Operations Act 2021 introduced laws that aimed to limit legal claims against UK service personnel relating to their actions while serving overseas.

We were concerned that this legislation:

• did not meet international human rights standards
• might prevent victims of crime from getting justice
• could increase the likelihood of judgments against the UK in international courts

We recommended removing the laws that posed the greatest risk to human rights. This meant:

• making sure that people could still be prosecuted for serious international crimes such as torture, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
• removing the requirement for the Government to consider derogating from (temporarily suspending) the European Convention on Human Rights during overseas operations