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'Panel Decries Terrorism Blacklist Process

By Molly Moore

The Washington Post

UN, EU methods violate basic human rights principles, European committee says.
Paris - The methods used by the United Nations and the European Union for blacklisting terrorism suspects are "totally arbitrary" and "violate the fundamental principles of human rights and rule of law," a European human rights panel said Monday.
The Council of Europe's legal committee urged an overhaul of international regulations so that individuals and groups being blacklisted - which imposes a freeze on assets and a ban on traveling - would have access to evidence against them, rights to a fair trial or impartial review within a reasonable time and compensation for wrongful designation as a terrorist.
"The fight against terrorism is a need that nobody can put into question," said the panel, which is part of the 47-nation council, Europe's leading human rights watchdog organization. "But we consider it unacceptable to forego, in the name of this fight, the fundamental principles of a democratic society."
In a draft resolution to be considered by another council body, the committee said: "If one adds to this picture the practice of abductions ('extraordinary renditions'), of secret detention centers and the trivialisation of torture, this provides a worrying, devastating message: Principles that are as fundamental as the rule of law and the protection of human rights are optional accessories applicable only in fair weather."
The vote Monday to approve the report grew from the latest Council of Europe investigation into a range of anti-terrorism activities in recent years. A report by the council last summer said the CIA exploited NATO military agreements to help it run secret prisons in Poland and Romania, where the report said alleged terrorists were held in solitary confinement for months, shackled and subjected to other mental and physical torture. Poland and Romania have both denied that the CIA established such prisons on their soil.
The resolution approved by the Legal Affairs Committee is scheduled to be debated by the council's Parliamentary Assembly in January. The council's actions serve as recommendations to members of the 27-nation European Union.
Approximately 370 individuals and 60 organizations worldwide have been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council or the European Union, the investigation found. In addition to the freeze on their finances and the prohibition on travel, they have little recourse for getting delisted, according to Dick Marty, a Swiss legislator who led the investigation. Marty also headed the council's probe of secret prisons.'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111307L.shtml