The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) has made available its “Council Monitor,” a daily briefing on the ongoing sessions of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. From their summary of the events on 25 September 2006, the report of Mr. Martin Scheinin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, could be of particular interest to UNPO Members:

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism

Mr. Martin Scheinin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, presented his annual report, his summary of communications with governments, and the report of his mission to Turkey. The Special Rapporteur identified five trends in counter-terrorism measures that have negative implications for human rights: the abuse of the term ‘terrorism’ to justify repression of undesirable movements; the questioning or compromising of the absolute prohibition of torture and all forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; going beyond the criminalisation of incitement to commit serious crime by criminalising the ‘glorification’ or ‘apology’ of terrorism; the use of terrorism as justification for more tightening immigration controls, including through racial profiling, new forms of long-term or even indeterminate detention and denial of procedural guarantees; and the use of terrorism as justification for expanding the powers of the police and abandoning many traditional safeguards. Mr Scheinin drew specific attention to the lack of an adequate internationally accepted definition of ‘terrorism’, which creates the potential for unintended human rights abuses or even deliberate abuse of the term. Mr Scheinin expressed disappointment with regard to the response rate of governments, both to specific communications and requests for country visits. However, he has conducted preliminary consultations with the United Kingdom, South Africa and Kazakhstan and has been conducting a desktop study on Australian law and practices in combating terrorism. A major focus of Mr Scheinin’s work lies in the “mainstreaming” of human rights into the framework of other international counter-terrorism institutions. He has taken particular interest in working with the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Security Council (CTC) and suggested possible joint country missions in the future. Mr Scheinin announced that the theme of his next main report to the Council will address racial and ethnic profiling in the context of countering terrorism and suicide attacks as a challenge to human rights based responses to terrorism. The Special Rapporteur conveyed his appreciation to the Turkish Government for their exemplary facilitation of his mission. His primary recommendations to the State included bringing its definition of terrorism into harmony with international human rights standards, as well as to establish a procedure whereby amnesty or pardon is granted when evidence is obtained through torture. Mr Scheinin has also submitted a legal opinion to Turkey regarding various amendments to the Anti-Terror Act.

Interactive Dialogue

Turkey expressed its general support for the mandate. Turkey noted that they had extended standing invitations to all special procedures and expressed the hope that more countries would follow their example. The Turkish delegation highlighted the need for the mandate holders to be careful of redefining and expanding their mandates in this time of transition and stated that the special procedures should ideally not discuss their findings in the media before the reports have been dealt with in the Council. Turkey added that the definition provided in Turkish law had been amended recently to comply with international standards. Among other things, Switzerland asked the Special Rapporteur if he was of the opinion that there are sufficient legal standards for the treatment of prisoners especially regarding interrogation techniques. Chile as interested to hear about any suggestions that the Special Rapporteur had on more regular interaction with he Council considering that the Council will now be meeting several times a year, and on the review of mandates. The USA noted with concern actions by some countries to justify repressive internal measures to restrict human rights on the grounds of combating terrorism. They stated that because they supported the work of the Special Rapporteur, they were concerned if some of the areas he suggested addressing in his future work were sufficiently central to his mandate or likely to lead to productive results. They highlighted the examples of him trying to develop a single definition of terrorism and of exploring the ‘root causes’ or ‘conditions conducive to terrorism’ in this regard. Finland, on behalf of the EU, highlighted the issue of secret detention facilities that were not in conformity with international standards and mentioned the enquiries by the European Parliament and Council of Europe concerning CIA flights. The Republic of Korea stated that the rule of law must be upheld while countering terrorism. Furthermore, States should not sacrifice the very values they are trying to defend. In the Republic of Korea’s opinion it is within the mandate to look into the root cause of terrorism, and until a clear definition of terrorism is elaborated it is essential to ensure that the term is limited to conduct that is truly ‘terrorist’ in nature. The interactive dialogue went beyond the time available and will be completed on 26 September 2006.