Les droits de l’homme figurent parmi les premières victimes des initiatives des pays européens visant à renforcer leurs pouvoirs pour lutter contre le terrorisme. Dick Oosting d’Amnesty International prévient que, mis à part les confusions et les incertitudes juridiques, le risque est d’aggraver encore davantage la situation des droits de l’homme.
The pressure is rising on governments in Europe and around the world to deliver on security. It is the duty of states to protect their citizens, but the emotions unleashed by terrorist attacks means the temptation has been to put security first and human rights second. Yet restricting basic human rights and the rule of law so as to round up terrorist suspects does not make the world a safer place. It can have the opposite effect, as it is in the breach not in the respect for human rights that real security is put at risk. Amnesty International has conducted the first-ever detailed analysis of the EU’s response to 9/11 in the area of criminal law initiatives, and this showed that while cross-border cooperation is being stepped up in the fight against terrorism, human rights safeguards are effectively being « left behind » at the frontiers. This is not only leading to violations of fundamental human rights but to legal confusion and uncertainty.
The central theme of our analysis is that the EU’s counter-terrorism effort is undermined whenever human rights considerations are neglected. Following the London bombings last July, there is further pressure on the EU to improve cooperation between police and judicial systems across Europe. How human rights fit into this picture is a vital issue that must not be ignored. We have already witnessed how the torture and abuse of terrorist suspects has stirred up hatred and resentment around the world.
Among the EU’s counter-terrorism initiatives are the formulation of a definition of terrorism, the use of terrorist blacklists, the European Arrest Warrant to facilitate extradition within the EU, and the extradition of terrorist suspects to third countries. In most of these areas the EU has at best provided vague protection for human rights, and at worst none at all.
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