29/11/2010 President
Strasbourg, 29.11.2010 - “Yesterday’s public support in Switzerland for an initiative of the Swiss People’s Party to automatically deport foreigners convicted of serious crimes is a matter of concern to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the values it stands for,” PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu stressed today.
“The fact that the expulsion would be both automatic and not subject to any appeal procedure makes it highly likely that such a measure would not be in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, such automatic expulsion includes the risk of sending people to countries where they might be at risk of torture or other forms of persecution. Any expulsion must respect the provisions of the Convention, in particular the prohibition of torture, but also the right to respect for private and family life and the right to an effective remedy”, he said.
“Every day, somewhere in Europe, the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights are being put to the test. We need to send a message from Strasbourg that we will stand up for the full respect of human rights even more strongly when times are difficult, and when resentment stirred by economic decline and social crisis is being exploited by populist discourse. Anti-immigrant trends can currently be observed in many Council of Europe member states. It is our role, as a human rights watchdog, to be vigilant and to make it very clear that no transgression of the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights will be tolerated,” he concluded.