24/06/2009 Session
In the debate which it holds every two years on the state of human rights in Europe, the Assembly today urged member states to make the fight against impunity a priority by clearly stating at the highest political level that serious human rights violations committed or aided by state agents cannot be tolerated in any circumstances. In this connection, the members of the Assembly believe that full and speedy execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in cases of impunity is the key to fighting this scourge in the member states.
PACE also called on the Committee of Ministers to elaborate guidelines on the fight against impunity, drawing from the case law of the Court, its own work on the execution of judgments, pertinent Assembly resolutions and recommendations and the work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the UN and non-governmental organisations active in this field. It also called on the Committee of Ministers to consider the possibility of setting up an independent commission of inquiry to tackle the worst violations.
In her report in plenary, Herta Däubler-Gmelin (Germany, SOC) listed the different categories of impunity which demand adapted strategies for their eradication. The many concrete examples given by the rapporteur testify to the continued existence of this phenomenon in most member states in different forms, including wide-spread abuses in conflict situations, murders of journalists and human rights activists, negligent killing by police officers or ill-treatment of detainees, and hate crimes whose perpetrators profit from lax law enforcement.