The so-called 'war on terrorism' is creating a global system that allows and even promotes torture, a leading torture victims charity warned last week.

A report from the Redress Trust said safeguards under international law against torture have been circumvented for security reasons and that this is having 'a dramatic effect' on such practices.


The trust claimed that the discourse on terrorism has been used in particular to undermine the absolute prohibition against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international legal instruments.


The report called for the introduction of definitions of 'terrorist groups' and 'terrorist offences' in the absence of a global definition of terrorism under international law.


It also demanded that states respect the rule of law at all times when countering terrorism and acknowledge there is a high risk of undermining human rights when implementing security measures.


The US practice of 'extraordinary renditions' - the forced transfer of individuals to other states - should be stopped, it added.


Gabriela Echeverria, a legal adviser at the trust and the report's author, said national security measures and the defence of human rights should not be seen as incompatible. 'While taking such security measures, states should not disregard existing international standards, particularly where those rules are unequivocal,' she said.


The Redress Trust's report was published in the same week that the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission that statements extracted through torture may be admissible in proceedings before it, provided that British agents were not involved in the abuse.


The decision was criticised by Ms Echeverria, who said it was 'legitimising torture abroad'.



Link:www.redress.org