London, April 12: Amnesty International urged European nations Monday to stop using diplomatic assurances to send foreigners back to states that use torture, saying they “cannot be trusted” to protect them from abuse.
The London-based rights group criticised what it said was the increasing use of such assurances since the September 11, 2001 attacks to give legal and political cover for deporting those considered a threat to national security.
“Assurances against torture from governments that routinely practise such abuse simply cannot be trusted,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counter-terrorism and human rights in Europe.
“European governments that accept these hollow promises are undermining the absolute prohibition of torture.”
The report cited returns including from Spain, Austria and Georgia to Russia, as well as Sweden to Egypt and Uzbekistan where it said assurances of humane treatment had been breached.
Amnesty said the assurances are often vague and difficult to enforce, and European governments were using them “in their own self-interest to rid themselves of foreigners alleged to be involved in acts of terrorism.”
“The best way to prevent torture is to refuse to send people to places where they risk being harmed,” Hall said.
She added: “Diplomatic assurances do not provide such a safeguard and the practice of relying on them should be abandoned starting now.”
The European Court of Human Rights has issued five judgments since February 2008 ruling that diplomatic assurances against torture and ill-treatment from the governments of Colombia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan did not mitigate the risk of such abuse, Amnesty said.
—Agencies