- Title: BELGIUM: EU criticised over progress on investigations into rendition flights
- Date: 16th November 2010
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NOVEMBER 15, 2010) (REUTERS) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HOLDING NEWS CONFERENCE TO PRESENT LATEST REPORT ON RENDITION FLIGHTS CLOSE OF REPORT ENTITLED 'OPEN SECRET: MOUNTING EVIDENCE OF EUROPE'S COMPLICITY IN RENDITION AND SECRET DETENTION'/ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER JULIA HALL ADDRESSING JOURNALISTS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS CLOSE OF HALL CLOSE OF HALL'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER, JULIA HALL, SAYING: "What we see in Europe is a very dynamic scene with respect to accountability for renditions and secret detention whereas in the United States we see a continual wall of silence but the interesting piece of the spider web of renditions and secret detentions is it was a global operation and therefore victims have a number of different countries and jurisdictions and fora within which now to bring claims for legal accountability." FRONT PAGE OF REPORT CLOSE OF REPORTER OPENING PAGE ABOUT LITHUANIA CLOSE OF MAP OF EUROPE THEN REPORTER TURNING PAGE, REVEALING A TITLE READING: 'THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: "ACCOUNTABILITY FREE-ZONE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER, JULIA HALL, SAYING: "As more information trickles out it will be harder and harder for the United States government to continue to stonewall when it comes to accountability. So the processes that are happening in Europe, we do have hopes that they will have some kind of an impact across the Atlantic in the United States." VARIOUS OF REPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHER, JULIA HALL, SAYING: "You know the real question is how long can the U.S. hold out. With all this information coming out, with such determined advocates, with civil society making noise about it, how long can the U.S. hold out? If the EU were to add its voice, it would be another pressure point that the U.S. would have to then respond to. And we can only hope that they will do it." CLOSE OF REPORT READING 'WHICH COUNTRIES DID WHAT?' VARIOUS OF REPORT
- Embargoed: 1st December 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Belgium
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADWE5SOFDU5ZBTF64VHDALPC1V
- Story Text: Human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, criticised on Monday (November 15) the EU for lack of action against CIA rendition flights and secret detention programs.
In a report entitled 'Open Secret: Mounting evidence of Europe's complicity in rendition and secret detention', Amnesty International accused the EU of failing the hold its members to account over for their role in illegal rendition flights and called on further justice for suspects interrogated under the U.S. secret detention programs. The report, for example, criticises Romania for denying allegations about the presence of a secret detention facility on its territory.
However the group welcomed progress they say, was made by several European countries like Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Italy or Macedonia.
A Lithuanian parliamentary inquiry concluded in December 2009 that CIA secret prisons existed in the country, the report said.
In Poland, the report found, the prosecutor's office was investigating claims by Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, that he had been held in secret in Poland in 2002-2003 and granted him a victim status.
In February 2008 the Foreign Office admitted Britain had unwittingly played a role in rendition flights and the then Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, apologised for misleading parliament.
"What we see in Europe is a very dynamic scene with respect to accountability for renditions and secret detention whereas in the United States we see a continual wall of silence but the interesting piece of the spider web of renditions and secret detentions is it was a global operation and therefore victims have a number of different countries and jurisdictions and fora within which now to bring claims for legal accountability," Amnesty International expert researcher, Julia Hall, told a news conference in Brussels.
"As more information trickles out it will be harder and harder for the United States government to continue to stonewall when it comes to accountability. So the processes that are happening in Europe, we do have hopes that they will have some kind of an impact across the Atlantic in the United States," she added.
Amnesty International said that in order to increase its accountability the EU should get further involved in preventing illegal renditions. For the moment, it argued, it's up to individual countries to launch inquiries.
Hall says that if it had a unified position on rendition flights and secret detention programs, the EU could add their voice to those pressuring the United States to take action.
"You know the real question is how long can the U.S. hold out. With all this information coming out, with such determined advocates, with civil society making noise about it, how long can the U.S. hold out? If the EU were to add its voice, it would be another pressure point that the U.S. would have to then respond to. And we can only hope that they will do it," she said.
Amnesty International said it hope the EU will promote this issue in the forthcoming U.S.-EU summit in Lisbon on November 20. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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