Secretary General’s supplementary report under Article 52 ECHR on the question of secret detention and transport of detainees suspected of terrorist acts, notably by or at the instigation of foreign agencies

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This summary is not authoritative and only serves to give a short overview of the main points of the official supplementary report. It does not form part of the report itself.

This report supplements the report by the Secretary General under Article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on the question of secret detention and transport of detainees suspected of terrorist acts, notably by or at the instigation of foreign agencies (SG/Inf(2006)5). It contains the results of an analysis of the replies received in response to a second series of letters sent by the Secretary General.

In the case of Albania, the second letter sent on 22 February 2006 covered all four questions of the inquiry. In the case of 36 other States, the second letters on specific issue of my initial request were sent on 7 March 2006. As regards Finland, the letter asked for further explanations on question 3 of the initial request. The remaining letters requested further explanations and/or clarifications on one or more of the following specific points:

 control mechanisms (administrative, judicial, parliamentary or other) in respect of activities of national and foreign intelligence services;
 control mechanisms regarding transiting aircraft which may be used for rendition purposes;
 possible involvement of public officials in and official investigations into allegations of unacknowledged detentions or rendition flights (question 4 of the original request).

Most States appear to provide some form of control over national security services, be it administrative, judicial or parliamentary, or other. However, the information provided by States does not always make it possible to assess whether, in practice, the existing control mechanisms offer sufficiently effective guarantees against unlawful interference with ECHR rights and freedoms.

Control over foreign security services seems to be possible chiefly when their activities come within the framework of co-operation with national security services. Overall, legislative and administrative measures effectively to protect individuals against violations of human rights committed by agents of foreign security services appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

The replies confirm that the current controls and procedures for civil air traffic lack adequate safeguards against human rights violations. Requests for further information regarding passengers or search of a civil aircraft presupposes the existence of serious grounds for suspicion. Moreover, most States do not appear to exercise effective controls in order to verify whether State aircraft in transit are used for purposes incompatible with the ECHR. States concerned do not indicate that they have resorted to possibilities of granting overflight permissions for State aircraft subject to a waiver of immunity or on conditions. Existing bilateral and multilateral agreements providing for blanket or automatic overflight rights for State aircraft do not appear to allow for any meaningful controls in order to ensure respect for human rights.

The Secretary General shall make proposals for concrete Council of Europe follow-up action addressing the main problems which this inquiry has identified Europe-wide.

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Secretary General’s supplementary report under Article 52 ECHR on the question of secret detention and transport of detainees suspected of terrorist acts, notably by or at the instigation of foreign agencies