Est. 3min 24-02-2006 (updated: 04-06-2012 ) Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram In an open letter, Amnesty International has urged the European Union to take action to protect human rights from what it calls “open and sustained attack” by the United Kingdom. The Amnesty Report The report looks at anti-terrorism legislation passed in the UK since 2000, the treatment of alleged suspects, detention and ‘control orders’ and the accidental killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, mistakenly believed to have been one of the July 2005 London underground bombers. The human rights body is particularly concerned at the practice in the UK of detaining people without trial as suspected terrorists on evidence which is not disclosed. (The legislation allowing this was declared illegal by the UK House of Lords but the law was subsequently changed to allow such detentions to continue – see EURACTIV 20 Dec 2004). Such detainees have subsequently been deported to third countries under ‘diplomatic assurances’ that they will not be subjected to torture. Amnesty regards such assurances as worthless and the deportations as therefore “posing a challenge to the absolute prohibition on torture” under European and international human rights laws. The report was published on the same day as the European Parliament will hold its first hearing on the issue of CIA jails on European soil (see EURACTIV 11 Nov 2005). Amnesty sees the Commission and Parliament’s stance on the issue of CIA jails and rendition flights as encouraging and urges the Commission to take the same view on “abuse of power by the state” which it has identified in the United Kingdom. Amnesty’s call to the EU The letter to Mr Schüssel sets out the danger for the EU: “By remaining silent in face of human rights abuse carried out by its own Member States in the so-called ‘war on terror’, the EU takes the risk, along with US, to lose the credibility to uphold basic human rights and set an example for the rest of the world.” Therefore, the “minimalist” approach so far taken by the EU to human rights, through for example the Fundamental Rights Agency is no longer tenable. The letter concludes with a plea to the Commission, as guardian of the treaties to “scrutinise closely national practices and initiate proposals as to how the EU can respond to the human rights challenges identified as national level.” Read more with Euractiv Balkans drug route a threat to regional stabilityAccording to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, the Balkans has become the prime route for Afghan drugs destined for Europe. The effects on regional stability could be substantial. Subscribe now to our newsletter EU Elections Decoded Email Address * Politics Newsletters PositionsIt is the view of the UK government that the legislative powers they have introduced are essential to safeguard the public from, in the words of Home Secretary Charles Clarke, "the state of public emergency threatening the life of the nation." In his view the powers acted to deter would-be terrorists from entering the UK. In a speech to the UK Parliament in January 2005, Clarke said, "The Government of course intend to ensure that any future powers that we take in legislation are wholly compatible with the provisions of the European convention on human rights, and if necessary we will employ a new derogation to that effect. I have sought advice […..] and my judgment is that the range of powers that I have outlined, including a criminal sanction for breach, will be essential if we are to contain the threat that those who may be made subject to control orders pose to public safety." On the same subject of control orders, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said, "It is perfectly obvious that this country faces a terrorist threat the like of which we have not faced before. The advice that is being given to me by our security services and police is clear: we need these control orders, and we need them on the basis of reasonable suspicion of engagement in planning or plotting terrorist activity." On the UK’s control orders, Shami Chakrabarti of civil rights group Liberty said in February 2005, "Eight hundred years of the right to a fair trial in this country could be overturned The presumption of innocence, like innocence itself, is easier lost than regained. " On the issue of secret detention centres in Europe, Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini has given his full support to the Parliamentary committee of investigation, saying that "its aim was to defend the fundamental rights values and freedoms upon which the European institutions are based." BackgroundThe letter, addressed to Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria, which currently holds the EU Presidency, accompanies a damning report which sets out what Amnesty calls a "Kafkaesque system of laws and practices" which has built up in the UK over past six years. The letter "challenges the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament not to remain silent," but to "take an urgent stand against the excesses of Member States’ counter-terrorism policies." Since the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001, the EU has also passed a raft of anti-terror laws including the European arrest warrant, money laundering provisions, data retention provisions and measures for tracking terrorist suspects across Europe. Further ReadingEU official documents Parliament:Committee on alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners Governments UK Home Office:The current risk from terrorism UK Parliament:Speech of Charles Clarke: Measures to combat terrorism(26 January 2005) UK Parliament:Hansard report, Tony Blair(9 March 2005) NGOs and Think-Tanks Amnesty International:EU: Don't turn a blind eye to UK human rights abuses(23 Feb 2006) Amnesty International:Report: United Kingdom Human Rights: a broken promise(23 Feb 2006) Amnesty International:Open letter to the EU: Amnesty International Report on the UK: the erosion of human rights in the fight against terrorism(23 Feb 2006) Liberty:800 years of fair trial to be overturned in 14 days(21 Feb 2005) Press articles BBC News:UK terrorism laws 'cause abuses'(23 Feb 2006) The Independent:UK terror suspects being held in 'Kafkaesque world'(23 Feb 2006) Mirror:Blair is 'destroying Britain's freedoms'(23 Feb 2006)
