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Reports
European Parliament Committee of Inquiry (TDIP)
European Parliament: Interim report on CIA alleged flights, rendition and secret prisons in the EU (pdf):
Text of the Interim Report as adopted by the Committee of inquiry:Interim reportDraft Interim report:
English
French
German
Italian
PolishCouncil of Europe
Report from the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe:Supplementary report by the Secretary General on people detained or removed (pdf) CoE press release: 14 June 2006 (link) Additional information from CoE member states (link)
14 European countries colluded in CIA renditions, 7 accused of rights violations (COE report, 7 June 2006, pdf). The latest report by the Council of Europe on "Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers involving Council of Europe member states" has said that 7 countries - Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Britain, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Turkey - could be held responsible for "violations of the rights of specific persons" in connection with the CIA's rendition programme. Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Poland are also accused of "collusion" with the United States. Rapporteur Dick Marty said there were also corroborated facts to suggest that Romania and Poland were detainee drop-off points near to secret detention centres:
"Even if proof, in the classical meaning of the term, is not as yet available, a number of coherent and converging elements indicate that such secret detention centres did indeed exist in Europe".
The COE has produced a map showing stopover points, staging points, pick-up points and detainee transfer/drop off points (7 June 2006): Global ''spiders web'' of secret detentions and unlawful "renditions"
"I am now in position to say that we no longer need to speak about “alleged” cases of rendition", Terry Davis, Secretary-General Council of Europe (12 April 2006). Text of press release (link)
Report by the Secretary-General on report based on the official replies from all 46 member states. : Report (28 February 2006) plus: Addendum to the report (responses from each member state, link)
Council of Europe: Rendition and camps: According to Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly investigator Dick Marty it is highly likely that European governments were aware of ‘rendition’ affecting Europe: CoE Interim Report - full-text, 22.01.06 (pdf)
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: Alleged secret detention centres in Council of Europe member states: Information Memorandum (revised) by Mr Dick Marty, Chairperson of the Committee, 22 November 2005
Report from European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) Opinion on the International legal obligations of Council of Europe Member States in respect of secret detention facilities and inter-state transport of prisoners (adopted at the Plenary session on 17-18 March 2006, pdf)UK
UK: House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee: Human Rights Annual Report 2005 (pdf) It includes the following conclusion: "We conclude that the Government has a duty to enquire into the allegations of extraordinary rendition and black sites under the Convention against Torture, and to make clear to the USA that any extraordinary rendition to states where suspects may be tortured is completely unacceptable."
UK: 26 May 2006: Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has issued highly critical comments on "extraordinary rendition" in its report on UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT): JCHR extraordinary rendition (pdf). The report concludes that: "we do not accept the Government's view that... it has adequately demonstrated that it has satisfied the obligation under domestic and international human rights law to investigate credible allegations of renditions of suspects through the UK to face torture abroad" and that:
"Where there are credible allegations arising from previous records that a particular civil aircraft transiting UK airspace has been involved in renditions, and where the aircraft is travelling to or from a country known to practise torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, it should be required to land. Where such an aircraft lands at a UK airport for refuelling or similar purposes, it should be required to provide a full list of all those on board, both staff and passengers. On landing, it should be boarded and searched by the police, and the identity of all those on board verified. Wherever appropriate, a criminal investigation should be initiated."
NGOsAmnesty International: Partners in crime: Europe's role in US renditions (June 2006)
Extraordinary renditions: Military intelligence officials arrested for collusion in Abu Omar kidnapping (Statewatch)
UK: "Fabricating terrorism report: British complicity in renditions and torture", Cageprisoners (March 2006)
EU: Rendition: the cover-up by Martin Bright (New Statesman, link)
EU-USA: Rendition and removing refugees raise the same issue: Censored document reveals increased transit facilities for the USA to use EU airports to move people around the world (Statewatch)
EU-US: Torture By Proxy, International and Domestic Law Applicable to Extraordinary Renditions (report by Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University)Amnesty International: 5 April 2006: USA: Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and ‘disappearance’
Human Rights Watch: April 2004: “Empty Promises:” Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture
Human Rights Watch: April 2005: Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture
CIA-Rendition: European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) “Extraordinary rendition - a European Perspective" speech by Olivier Dutheillet de Lamothe (Substitute member, France) (Cardozo School of Law, 25 September 2006 - "Bauer Lecture")
Links
Redress: seeking reparation for torture survivors
Human Rights Watch torture and HRW Rendition