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Beirut NGO meeting rejects flawed deals on detainee transfers

24 January 2006, 07:26AM

A gathering of human rights organizations convened by Amnesty International in Beirut ended yesterday by reaching broad agreement that flawed deals on detainee transfers should be rejected.

The two-day meeting of organizations from the Middle East and North Africa concluded that the memoranda of understanding signed or being negotiated between the United Kingdom (UK) and countries in the region undermine the absolute prohibition of torture. The UK has so far concluded three such agreements - with Jordan, Lebanon and Libya - and is negotiating others with at least Algeria and Egypt. The agreements provide diplomatic assurances that detainees will not be tortured, ill-treated or unfairly tried after their transfer to these countries despite these countries' documented records of torture and unfair trials.

Echoing the views of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, the participants pointed out that these agreements circumvent the long-established principle that individuals should not be sent to places where they would be at risk of torture or other serious abuses. By setting out a special system to monitor the treatment of a few individuals, the agreements are intrinsically discriminatory. The safeguards they provide fall below those contained in international law. They lack an enforcement mechanism and do not provide for a remedy in case of a breach. In addition, diplomatic assurances have proven to be ineffective, especially in situations where the judiciary lacks sufficient independence and impunity for human rights violations prevails.

Participants in the meeting stressed that, instead of elaborating bilateral agreements aimed at protecting only a very small number of detainees, states should:

  • establish and implement comprehensive strategies and mechanisms to eradicate torture and ensure fair trials for all detainees, in line with their obligations under international law;
  • ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which requires effective national and international mechanisms to monitor detention centres;
  • cooperate with and implement the recommendations of UN human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on torture.

For further details, see Memoranda of Understanding and NGO Monitoring: a challenge to fundamental human rights (AI Index: POL 30/002/2006), January 2006, and Reject rather than regulate: Call on Council of Europe member states not to establish minimum standards for the use of diplomatic assurances in transfers to risk of torture and other ill-treatment (AI Index: IOR 61/025/2005), 2 December 2005.

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