20/03/2008 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 20.03.2008 – Illegal renditions and secret detentions in Europe, as well as the unfairness of procedures used by the UN Security Council and the EU to blacklist people with alleged links to terrorism, are the main themes of a major conference on “anti-terrorist measures and human rights” taking place in Athens on 28 March 2008.
Organised by Greece’s Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights (MFHR) in collaboration with the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), the conference will bring together parliamentarians, leading academics and experts to discuss why and how terrorism should be fought within international law.
“Our values are never more precious than in dark times,” said keynote speaker Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), author of the PACE reports exposing secret detentions in Europe and calling for fairer blacklisting procedures. “We must persuade governments that kidnap, torture and lawlessness are no way to defend freedom, and that such methods will not save lives in the long run.”
Other speakers include the former Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Anna Benaki, MFHR Chairperson Alice Marangopoulos, Linos Alexandre Sicilianos of Athens University, William Schabas of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, and independent expert and researcher Gavin Simpson.
Participants will also discuss anti-terrorist measures and human rights in the North Caucasus region.
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The conference, which is open to the press, will take place in two different venues: in the morning (from 9.30am to 1.15pm) in the “Drakopoulou” Auditorium of the Central Building of Athens University, 30 Panepistimiou Street, Athens, and in the afternoon (from 4.30pm to 6.30pm) in the former meeting room of the National Parliament, “Palaia Vouli”, 13 Stadiou Street, Kolokotroni Square.
Contact: Angus Macdonald, PACE Communication Unit, tel. +33 3 88 41 34 39, mobile +33 6 30 49 68 20, e-mail [email protected]
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