The European Parliament should condemn European complicity in the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program of “extraordinary renditions” and secret detention of prisoners, Human Rights Watch said today.

The United Nations’ ruling that Sweden violated the global torture ban in its involvement in the CIA transfer of an asylum seeker to Egypt is an important step toward establishing accountability for European governments complicit in illegal US renditions, Human Rights Watch said today.

As the Netherlands mulls resuming deportations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender asylum seekers back to Iran, and Sweden begins such deportations again, both European governments must adhere to their international legal obligations not to send people back to the risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

European governments should take concrete steps to help close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter sent to EU foreign ministers. sent to EU foreign ministers.

The wrongful detention of a well-known Uzbek dissident in Sweden on Tuesday highlights the lack of a strong European Union policy toward Uzbekistan, Human Rights Watch said today.

A Council of Europe expert group has rightly decided not to develop guidelines for the acceptable use of diplomatic assurances to justify sending people to places where they are at risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch welcomes the Council of Europe’s Group of Specialists on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism (DH-S-TER) reflection and continuing debate on the human rights implications of the use of diplomatic assurances in transfers of terrorism suspects to places where they are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. The objections of Human Rights Watch and a range of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the use of diplomatic assurances are detailed in two joint statements already submitted to the Council of Europe for consideration in the course of this debate.

European governments must provide detailed information about their participation in or knowledge of the Central Intelligence Agency’s unlawful detention and transfer of terrorist suspects.