EU’s war on terror is eroding human rights, Amnesty says

HUMAN rights are being sacrificed in the EU’s fight against terrorism and organised crime, warned Amnesty International.

They carried out the first analysis of its type into the effect of EU legislation devised since the September 11 attacks in the US four years ago.

The report concluded that many of the new laws in fact undermine security and efforts to fight terrorism in Europe by not respecting human rights.

The director of Amnesty’s EU office, Dick Oosting, said: “It is clear the lack of concrete, legally-binding human rights safeguards is not only leading to serious breaches of human rights but has created legal confusion and uncertainty.”

Respect for human rights is often portrayed as hampering efforts to defeat terrorism, but the analysis shows that genuine security is undermined if basic human rights and the rule of law are not respected, he said.

Amnesty was critical of individual member states including Ireland and said that all too often they were prepared to remain silent on breaches of rights protection within and outside the EU.

They for instance did not appear to be worried about what serious human rights abuses might occur when suspects were transported to other countries.

The report was highly critical of a number of countries, including Ireland for allowing their airports to be used by unmarked CIA jets bringing abducted suspects to places such as Guantanamo Bay.

“Reports state that Frankfurt, Mallorca and Shannon airports are known stop-off points for unmarked CIA jets carrying irregular renditions. Member states that allow their territory to be used for stop-overs are colluding in serious breaches of human rights.”

It called for EU rules preventing the use of airspace or airports to be used to transfer people abducted in this way.

The Irish government said there is no evidence of this but have admitted they do not have the right to board and inspect such flights.

The report questioned terrorist blacklists where people or organisations are put on a list without any clear definition of what terrorism is and have no way of challenging their inclusion.

It criticised the EU’s extradition agreement with the US, the first of its kind of judicial cooperation in criminal matters with a third country, saying it did not give watertight guarantees of a fair trial and that the death penalty would not be used.

Amnesty said it was profoundly concerned about the ruling from the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in August last year that evidence obtained through torture by foreign agents could be used in court.

Said Mr Oosting: “The notion of a ‘war on terror’ is helping to create a legal limbo, and it is in no-one’s interest and certainly not in the interest of security, to obtain a wrongful conviction in a terrorist trial or to cooperate blindly with countries that do not respect human rights or the rule of law, thus giving their methods legitimacy.”

The Director-General for Justice, Freedom and Security in the European Commission, Jonathan Faull, said the report was biased in suggesting that the EU’s concern for human rights disappeared at the borders.

President of the Irish Commission on Human Rights, Dr Maurice Manning, issued a statement recently saying he was concerned about the legislation coming from Brussels.

He called for it to be “human rights proofed” before being finalised.

Under the Constitution, national governments would have oversight much earlier in the process and a third of national parliaments could make changes.