(Brussels, 27 April 2006) Implement a comprehensive system of procedural safeguards for fair trial, say Amnesty International and the UK law reform organization, JUSTICE, on the eve of the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council.
05/04/2006 – Renditions involve the transfer of people from one country to another in ways that bypass all judicial and administrative due process. In the context of the “war on terror”, this practice has usually been initiated by the USA and carried out with the collaboration, complicity or acquiescence of other governments.
27/03/2006 – Joint letter commenting on the restricted approach to EU human rights policy reflected in the Commission proposal for a Fundamental Rights Agency. Giving the Agency a remit that largely excludes human rights compliance by Member States will effectively bar it from addressing the reality of the state of human rights within the EU’s own borders.
06/03/2006 – Today, terrorism related cases and specific national legislation aimed at combating terrorism, are a clear example that the limitation of fundamental rights such as the right to a fair trial, is not a theoretical problem in the EU.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe has confirmed Amnesty International’s concerns that many states across Europe may be facilitating secret detention, unlawful renditions and other human rights violations through their own legal shortcomings and practices.
(Brussels, 23 February 2006) On the day that the European Parliament conducts formal hearings on suspected Member States complicity in CIA abuses, Amnesty International releases a report showing how the United Kingdom has been carrying out a sustained attack on universal human rights standards, well beyond the issue of rendition flights, through its draconian counter terrorism practices.
23/02/2006 – “Let no one be in any doubt. The rules of the game are changing.” So warned on 5 August 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair in the aftermath of the July bombings in London when outlining a package of measures, described as countering terrorism, that threaten human rights, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. In fact the government started changing the rules well before then.
23/02/2006 – Amnesty International open letter to the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament on its latest report “United Kingdom – Human rights: a broken promise”. Amnesty International calls on the EU Institutions to build on their legal and political competencies and powers to give the EU a new impetus in framing an EU-wide counter-terrorism and human rights policy. The report “United Kingdom – Human rights: a broken promise”.
14/02/2006 – In view of the forthcoming discussions, at the 21-22 February 2006 JHA Council, about the possible adoption of a common EU list of safe countries of origin, Amnesty International recapitulates its concerns as to the potentially far-reaching consequences of such a list on the principle of non-refoulement.
13/01/2006 – Austria takes over the Presidency relieved that the EU budget for the next seven years has been settled, reassured that despite the constitutional fiasco the EU is still in business, and eager to conclude negotiations on the EU Fundamental Rights Agency to be established in Vienna.
13/01/2006 – Austria takes over the EU Presidency at a time when a major political and public preoccupation is how governments seek to provide security when faced with the threat of terrorism without eroding human rights (see “Reaffirming the primacy of human rights – Amnesty International’s ten-point programme for the Austrian Presidency of the European Union”).
14/12/2005 – Open letter to Heads of State or Government of the European Union, calling on the European Council to state unequivocally that it will not tolerate any national or EU law or practice in the fight against terrorism that violates the principles of respect for the rule of law and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.