Recommendation AS-4: Shooting Incident Policy
From The Report of the Al-Sweady Inquiry, published 17 December 2014.
Recommendation
A Shooting Incident Policy should be drafted which is achievable in practice in Theatre, which is compliant with Article 2 of the ECHR and which enables the ascertainment of the relevant facts leading up to, during and consequent upon the Shooting Incident by an independent body such as the Royal Military Police within a time limited but reasonable period after the Shooting Incident.
In brief (written by this site)
In March 2015, the Ministry of Defence reported that it was "investigating the feasibility of an overarching Shooting Incident Policy" compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Ministry of Defence, Mar 2015). The department stated in March 2015 that shooting incident policies are theatre-specific and evolve over time, adding that any changes must be practically achievable and avoid unreasonable constraints to operational effectiveness (Ministry of Defence, Mar 2015).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Sir Thayne Forbes has made just nine recommendations, and he acknowledges the progress that the Ministry has made since 2004 to improve all aspects of the prisoner-handling system—from policy and doctrine to unit-level instructions and procedures as well as training and oversight—and to ensure it complies with domestic and international law. I accept all nine recommendations in principle. I have commissioned urgent work on their practical implications—in particular, we will need to ensure that they will not prevent the armed forces from carrying out vital tasks—and I will announce to the House my detailed conclusions as soon as I can.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The Secretary of State for Defence accepted all nine recommendations in principle together, in one passage of his statement to the House of Commons on 17 December 2014. That passage is shown on each recommendation and is not a response to any one of them alone. He said he would announce his detailed conclusions later. His written statement of 12 March 2015 (HCWS383) and the report on implementation he placed in the Library of the House that day (deposited paper DEP2015-0312) give the Ministry of Defence's account of each recommendation; they are shown as status updates.
Delivery
Ministry of Defence says in progress (12 March 2015)
Recommendation 4. This calls for promulgation of an achievable and human rights-compliant shooting incident policy. The requirements under the Armed Forces Act 2006 to report serious incidents to the Service Police are clear. Shooting incident policies are theatre-specific and are written to reflect the security situation and the role in which the Armed Forces are employed. On enduring operations they evolve over time. Any change to our existing policy must take those realities into account, must avoid unreasonable constraints to operational effectiveness, and must be practically achievable. In accordance with the recommendation, the MoD is investigating the feasibility of an overarching Shooting Incident Policy that would be compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, regardless of what the demands of Article 2 might be as a matter of law in a given situation.
From: Report on implementation of Al-Sweady Inquiry recommendations
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Ministry of Defence
Response, delivery statement