AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement The European Union must oppose complicity with US renditions programme Amnesty International will continue to press the Council of the European Union (EU) to publicly and unequivocally oppose any further complicity in the US-led programme of renditions within the EU. The Council and member states must take action to ensure accountability for the grave human rights violations that have already occurred in the context of the programme, including illegal transfers, torture or ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. The EU should also call on the US government to cease the practices of rendition and illegal detention and to bring to account those who have been involved in these grave human rights violations. The imperative for the EU to take action without further delay is underscored by the findings of the investigation into renditions and secret detention by the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee, included in its draft report published yesterday and its interim report published in June, as well as the findings of the investigations by the Council of Europe. Amnesty International agrees with the rapporteur of the Temporary Committee that the public silence of the Council to President Bush's confirmation of the existence of the CIA’s programme of secret detentions and ‘‘alternative’’ interrogation is deplorable. This unlawful programme could not exist without renditions and neither could exist without the complicity of other governments. In the words of the Committee’s rapporteur, Claudio Fava, the EU should stress that ‘‘the appropriate legal framework for governing the international fight against terrorism is criminal law and international human rights’’ ... ‘‘the protection of fundamental rights must never be compromised’’. The draft report emphasizes that member states' positive obligation to protect human rights extends to all nationals and residents alike, without discrimination. The draft report of the Temporary Committee supports and elaborates on Amnesty International’s findings of the involvement and complicity of EU member states, candidate and associate countries, in the US rendition programme. Such complicity has ranged from acceptance and concealment of renditions, secret detentions torture and other ill-treatment, and information gained from such treatment -- to direct involvement in abductions and illegal transfers. The draft report details evidence of direct complicity in rendition cases by security services and other authorities in Italy, Sweden, UK, Germany, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Furthermore, the report highlights that security forces of the UK, Germany, and Turkey took advantage of the situation by interrogating individuals who had been subjected to rendition. Regarding allegations that individuals have been secretly detained in European countries in the context of the rendition programme, the draft report states that it ‘‘cannot exclude’’ that there were US secret detentions in Romania and that there is ‘‘serious circumstantial evidence that a secret detention facility could have been hosted’’ in Poland. The Temporary Committee also found evidence of at least 1245 flights by CIA aircraft which stopped over on European territory. These included 336 stopovers in Germany, 170 in UK, 147 in Ireland, 91 in Portugal, 68 in Spain, 64 in Greece, 57 in Cyprus, 21 in Romania and 11 in Poland. Out of those, several flights had Guantánamo as their origin or destination, including flights which stopped over in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Romania and Poland. In the face of all the evidence presented by the Temporary Committee, the Council of Europe, the media and non-governmental organizations, the duty of each and every government to investigate the crimes that have occurred in and through European territory and by members of US and European security services should no longer be open to question. While investigations have been undertaken in Spain, Germany, Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina into the renditions programme and the authorities’ alleged role therein, many governments, notably Austria, Poland, Macedonia, and Romania, have failed to initiate such thorough, independent and impartial investigations. Amnesty International condemns the lack of transparency on the part of the EU Council and bodies about their knowledge of the US-led programme and the reported attempt by the USA and the EU to set up a joint framework with Page 1 of 2 the USA on standards for renditions in May this year. The draft report deplores the failure of many Member states as well as the Council of the EU to fully cooperate with the Temporary Committee's investigation. Senior officials of Europol, NATO, and the Italian government, refused to appear before the Committee. The full extent of the human rights violations resulting from the renditions programme must be brought to light, and the European Parliament has a continuing important role to play in these efforts. The draft report supports the recommendations of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who urged governments to close any loopholes which have facilitated US-led renditions from and through European countries and could help close such gaps in the future. In particular, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe proposed the drafting of principles and guidelines to enhance control over the activities of domestic and foreign security services on the territory of member States; better safeguards and controls over air traffic transiting through European states; and ending impunity for the perpetrators of serious human rights violations. The draft report makes a number of other recommendations, including: o urging EU member states, candidate and associated countries to start or conclude independent and transparent investigations into alleged complicity in renditions; o that the European Commission undertake an evaluation of member states’ anti-terrorism legislation to be followed by proposals for actions to prevent such human rights violations in the future; o ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, and the Convention on Enforced Disappearances; o calling for the closure of Guantánamo and for European countries to accept the return of their citizens and residents who are being held illegally by US authorities. In addition to these recommendations, Amnesty International will continue to urge all EU member states, candidate and associate countries, to: o ensure the accountability of intelligence agencies, including by prohibiting the practice of mutual assistance in circumstances where there is a substantial risk that such co-operation would contribute to unlawful detention, torture or other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, unfair trial or the imposition of the death penalty; o ensure that the fate and whereabouts of all victims of secret detention and rendition are established and notified to their relatives; o ensure that all victims obtain prompt and adequate reparation for the violations suffered from the state(s) responsible, including restitution, rehabilitation and fair and adequate financial compensation; o ensure countries' full co-operation with ongoing national and international investigations on rendition and secret detention, including by providing them with access to all relevant people and information. As the European Parliament debates the draft report over the next two months, Amnesty International will elaborate further recommendations and continue to press for proper accountability at both EU and national level. See also: USA: Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and 'disappearance', http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510512006 Partners in crime: Europe's role in US renditions, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGEUR010082006 Sweden: The case of Mohammed El Zari and Ahmed Agiza: violations of fundamental human rights by Sweden confirmed, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engeur420012006 Italy Abu Omar: Italian authorities must cooperate fully with all investigations, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engeur300062006 Twelve Steps to End Renditions and Secret Detentions in Europe, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engior100012006 Amnesty International is campaigning to stop torture and ill-treatment in the "war on terror". For more information, please go to the campaign home page: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture Page 2 of 2 .