Amnesty Attacks UK No-Torture Pacts [View All]

Source: Guardian UK

Amnesty attacks UK no-torture pacts

Diplomatic assurances that deportees will not be tortured 'simply cannot be trusted', says human rights group

Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Monday 12 April 2010

Britain is singled out as "the most influential and aggressive" promoter of the policy of seeking unenforceable "diplomatic assurances" that individuals deported on security grounds will not be tortured, in an Amnesty International report today.

It calls on the UK and 11 other European countries to immediately end the practice of striking "no-torture" deals. The report – Dangerous Deals: Europe's reliance on diplomatic assurances against torture – says governments are attempting to send foreigners alleged to be security threats to countries where they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment in exchange for unreliable, unenforceable assurances that they will be treated humanely.

The special immigration appeals commission is due tomorrow to hear the case of an unidentified Ethiopian national threatened with deportation based on a "memorandum of understanding" between the UK and Ethiopia that promises the man will not be tortured upon his return. Amnesty has documented serious human rights abuses in Ethiopia and says diplomatic deals with Ethiopia are an extremely unreliable guide to future treatment in that country.

Julia Hall, Amnesty's expert on counter-terrorism and human rights in Europe, said: "Assurances against torture from governments that routinely practise such abuse simply cannot be trusted. European governments that accept these hollow promises are undermining the absolute prohibition of torture."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/12/amnesty-torture-deportation-diplomacy