Very disturbing practices used in countering terrorism have become a source of undermining fully established human rights norms, such as the universal ban of torture and other ill-treatments - this was one of the conclusions of the public hearing of the Subcommittee on Human Rights today, 15 June, held to mark the upcoming International Day against Torture on 26th June.
"More than 20 years after the entry into force of the Convention against Torture, an increasing number of governments are allowing the practice of torture to spread, and public opinion appears to be tolerant of the practice", recalled Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI), chairperson of the Subcommittee on Human Rights at the opening of the hearing.
Speaking about the main challenges to the absolute prohibition of torture and other inhumane treatments in the context of counter-terrorism, particularly with reference to Pakistan, Ms Hina Jilani, human rights lawyer and a founding member of the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan, underlined the increased potential of the use of torture by states in combating terrorism, mentioning that the main reason for this is the lack of accountability of national authorities dealing with counter-terrorism activities.

Reception by the OMCT Europe, during the public hearing of June 15, 2011, to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture in the presence of Hina Jilani, the Human Rights Commission Pakistan - Heidi Hautala, member of European Parliament (Greens, Finland) - Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General and Gerald Staberock, Deputy Secretary General, OMCT.
No scrutiny of intelligence services
Another alarming trend in her opinion is the military response to terrorism - incommunicado detention, forced disappearances - practices potentially allowing torture and which cannot be detected. This militarisation and the expanded role of intelligence services in countering terrorism have lead to "parallel systems of justice, with very limited judicial and civil scrutiny", said Ms Jilani.
Moreover, according to Ms Jilani, in most countries "there is no legal basis for the transfer of power to interrogate and detain to secret services" which in the end are unaccountable bodies enjoying immunity. She added that intelligence is incrementally encroaching in the domain of law enforcement.
On the questions raised be MEPs Richard Richard Howitt (S&D, GB) and Barbara Lochbihler (Greens/ EFA, DE) on the need to have clear guidelines to deal with secret services, Mr Eric Sottas, Secretary General, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) replied: "We need to establish clear standards, since there is an obligation of security services when they have a feeling that information originates from sources where torture is a common practice."
Crucial role of prosecution and conviction of terrorist suspects
"Counter-terrorism actions are certainly not conclusive unless they take the directions of proper prosecution of terrorist suspects. Ms Jilani underlined that conviction and prosecution are crucial due to the following reasons:
· justifying the full engagement of government in countering terrorism
· helping raise public awareness and combating propaganda according to which these suspects are supposedly victims of injustice
· transparency - people forget the committed crimes and associate terrorist activities with some kind of ideology, thus becoming very difficult to find public support for counter terrorism measures. This perpetuates power and influence of groups interested in promoting terrorism activities in order to promote a particular agenda.
Future funding of trauma therapy centres in Europe
MEP Lochbihler expressed her concerns regarding the future of the Centers for torture victims post-2013 when funding from the European Instruments for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) will expire since these centres function within the EU and the EIDHR has an external dimension. The EEAS representative informed about a 1 million Euros pilot project which has been launched to ensure the sustainable financing of these rehabilitation centres.
Psychological terror in Communist Europe
MEPs Vytautas Landsbergis (EPP, LT) and Lazslo Tokes (EPP, RO) recalled the systematic use of psychological torture in the countries of the Communist bloc, a cruel technique, very difficult to prove but with long-lasting consequences on the victims.
Lotte Leicht from Human Rights Watch recalled that there 118 court verdicts of the European Court for Human Rights dealing with torture, impunity, forced disappearances in Russia, which have to be implemented and called on the MEPs to put pressure by raising this cases high on the political agenda with Russia.
In the chair: Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI)
The video recording of the entire discussion is available here (search for Subcommittee on Human Rights, 15 May, 2011):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/vod/search-committees?language=en
The documents of the hearing are available here:
European Parliament resolution of 9 June 2011 on Guantánamo: imminent death penalty decision
Contact:
Ioana BOBES
Press Unit
foreign-press@europarl.europa.eu
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