Rights & Security International's (RSI) research shows that the UK government is wrong in its claims that British military veterans have been subjected to 'vexatious claims' arising out of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The UK government alleges that British military veterans have been subjected to ‘vexatious claims’ and ‘vexatious prosecutions’ stemming from the conflict in Northern Ireland prior to the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (B/GFA). In this context, we interpret ‘vexatious’ as meaning false, repetitive, lacking evidence or brought for malicious purposes.
RSI’s research indicates that since 2016, there have been over 250 references to the concept of ‘vexatious claims’ in parliamentary debates – not only in relation to Northern Ireland, but also describing claims made against the Ministry of Defence and individual soldiers arising out of the UK’s overseas operations – as well as at least seven parliamentary discussions dedicated to the topic
However, the government has not yet produced statistical evidence in support of its contention that vexatious claims are a serious problem in the context of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
We conclude that the ‘vexatious claims’ argument is not based on evidence. Please see the below briefing for further information.
