Geneva, 21 July 2016 - OMCT, the leading global civil society coalition against torture today calls for the respect of the absolute prohibition of torture through a scrupulous application of legal safeguards against abuse and an urgent restoration of the rule of law in Turkey.
“The declaration of a state of emergency in Turkey must be a wake up
call for all. The alarm bells are ringing loud and clear”, said Gerald
Staberock, Secretary General of the OMCT commenting on the declaration of a
state of emergency by Turkey’s President Erdogan during a press conference yesterday
night.
The state of
emergency, declared for three months, allows the president and the Council of
Minister to rule by decree, bypassing in this way the parliament when drafting
new laws and concentrating into the hands of a few people the power to restrict
or suspend rights and freedoms. Despite President Erdogan’s words ensuring that
“this measure is in no way against democracy, the rule of law and freedoms”,
OMCT is concerned that floodgates for abuse have been put wide open.
“What we
witness today is a cocktail for abuse and torture” said Gerald Staberock “All ingredients are there: mass arrests on
the basis of vague grounds and generic suspicions, a system tantamount to
detention without charge or trial, paired with disturbing accounts of denied
access for detainees to lawyers and the outside world”.
With a judiciary
whose independence has been destroyed and with the intensification of
intimidation and reprisals against anybody questioning arrests and detention,
we are concerned that a state of emergency will result in a full derogation of key
legal safeguards.
“The legacy – including in Turkey – of states of emergencies is replete
with arbitrary detention, abuse and torture” remarks Gerald Staberock. It
is also for this that military coups are universally condemned. ‘It is now vital that key legal safeguards
are maintained and that anybody arrested is charged with a recognizable crime
and treated within the rule of law”.
We remind the
government of Turkey that the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment applies in war, peace and in a state of emergency, and
constitutes a crime under international law. It is its obligation under
international law not only to refrain from torture but to ensure that it is
prevented at all times.
International human
rights law allows for security measures to be taken in a crisis situation but as
a continuation and not abrogation of the rule of law.
We further express
concern over the unprecedented and illegal interferences into the judiciary as
well as the enactment of arbitrary measures against masses of state officials,
teachers and other professional groups outside of any due process. Considerations
suggesting the reintroduction of the death penalty are particularly disturbing
as this will not only violate Turkey’s international obligations, but also set
a dangerous precedent in the present volatile environment.
“As in many state of emergencies we hear state officials saying that
ordinary citizens have nothing to fear and it only serves to maintain democracy”
notes Gerald Staberock. “Yet the
principle of the winner takes is all and a “trust me, believe me” approach are
not compatible with democracy and the rule of law. In a democracy based on the
rule of law even in times of crisis key guarantees have to apply to whoever, friend
or not”.
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