Military Human Rights Claims
Human Rights is a relatively new area of law and attracts headlines.We deal only with article 2 which is the right to life.The provisioin of equipment to serving soldiers deployed in combat zones is a hot topic.In reality though they are a small percentage of claims we bring against the MOD.This is because the test of when the MOD have breached the right is a high one.Also damages are not the purpose of the claim and may not be awarded at all. Where awards are made they are modest.
A one year time limit causes a practical problem in many cases.There is also law that says that the Human Rights Act does not apply to soldiers outside bases outside this country. Whilst it is not our preferred claim we can advise and we nave settled these cases. There is a link to Military Inquests as a Coroner can find a breach of Article 2 as in the Inquest we did in Hereford into the crash of a Puma in Iraq in November 2007.
We use Counsel skilled in this narrow field and expect there to be further clarification on the law as it applies to combat immunity situations in 2011.
