I welcome the publication of the US Senate report on the CIA anti-terrorism tactics which consisted of a number of illegal measures, including torture. This report not only confirms the decade-long warnings of the international human rights community about unlawful CIA tactics, but also marks a watershed in the fight against terrorism because intelligence agencies and political leaders can no longer resort to the specious argument that torture is an effective way of obtaining useful intelligence. I am now interested to see what consequences the report triggers in Europe. Already yesterday, the former President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, confirmed for the first time after years of denial, the existence of a secret CIA prison in Poland. Time has come for European countries to remove the thick cloak of secrecy and establish accountability for what happened on European soil. We already know that at least twenty-five European countries have co-operated in the CIA rendition programme, but only very few of them have established any sort of accountability. In July past, the European Court of Human Rights delivered two judgments against Poland in relation to the conditions of detention, interrogation and transfer to the USA of two terrorist suspects currently held in Guantanamo, Abd Al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al Nashiri and Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, also known as Abu Zubaydah. It also faulted Poland for ineffectively investigating the applicants’ allegations. This was not the first time that the Court exposed the lawlessness that has characterised the sordid rendition programme carried out by the CIA in Europe between 2002 and 2006. Back in December 2012 the Court held “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” responsible for the torture of Khalid El Masri performed by a CIA rendition team in the presence of Macedonian officials and for inhuman and degrading treatment during his arbitrary detention. It also found that the State had failed to comply with its obligation to carry out an effective investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, as well as to provide an effective remedy to the complainant. In the near future, the Court could further expose Europe’s complicity in this programme in cases concerning Lithuania and Romania. But governments should act now to change their anti-terror policies in order to make them more human-rights compliant and subject to strong democratic oversight. As countries step up their defenses against terrorist threats, they must bear in mind the far-reaching consequences that their actions have: Forfeiting human rights, misleading the public and democratic institutions, as well as trampling the rule of law deal a serious blow to democracy and governments’ credibility. I hope political and security agency leaders will understand once and for all that by making anti-terror policies more human rights-compliant, state security is not reduced. On the contrary, governments would increase their credibility among the public and weaken support for anti-democratic causes if they showed as much resolve in safeguarding human rights as in fighting terrorism.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 08:16:21 +0000
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