02/10/2008 Session
PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights today adopted the following statement:
“The Committee is worried about the fate of detainees who have been cleared of all suspicion of terrorist activity, but who cannot return to their home countries where they would now risk persecution.
The Committee recalls the primary responsibility of the , which must recognise and adequately compensate the injustice done to these men.
At the same time, considering their humanitarian obligations, it urges European Governments, who have rightly called on the to shut down the detention center for terrorist suspects in (), “to let deeds follow their words and provide humanitarian protection for detainees who cannot return to their home countries.”
If a sufficiently large number of European states were to grant such protection, they would also not be vulnerable to pressures that may be exercised by certain countries wishing to oblige their nationals to return.
The readiness to provide humanitarian protection to the 50 or so persons concerned would be a most welcome signal of cooperation in the direction of the future President of the : both presidential contenders have expressed a desire to close down , and will need the cooperation of the European partners.
Last but not least, granting humanitarian protection to the innocent victims of human rights violations committed in the fight against terrorism, as denounced by PACE in several reports in 2006 and 2007, is a moral duty of those Governments who have colluded with the current US administration in the implementation of its extraordinary renditions and secret detentions programmes.
Links:
Resolution 1340 (2003) on “Rights of persons held in the custody of the in or ” (Rapporteur: Mr Kevin McNamara), Doc 9817
Resolution 1507 (2006) and Recommendation 1754 (2006) on “Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states” (Rapporteur: Mr Dick Marty), Doc 10957 + Addendum
Resolution 1562 (2007) and Recommendation 1801 (2007) on “Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report” (Rapporteur: Mr Dick Marty), Doc 11302 rev + Addendum