The lack of safeguards in France’s policy of expelling foreign residents with alleged links to violent extremism undermines human rights and alienates communities whose cooperation is critical to the fight against terrorism, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

A British court ruling on April 27, 2007 that two terrorism suspects cannot be returned safely to Libya is a major setback to the British government’s efforts to deport national security suspects to countries where they risk torture, Human Rights Watch said today. The court ruled against the deportations despite promises of humane treatment from the Libyan government.

The Spanish government must ensure that its new agreement on the repatriation of unaccompanied children to Morocco fully complies with Spain’s international human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The UK has studiously ignored nearly 2m refugees escaping violence and persecution, perhaps because recognising their existence would be an admission that the adventure in Iraq did not go as planned.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write to you concerning proposed legislation that, if passed, would prevent free speech and access to information by and about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in schools and other institutions of learning in Poland—as well as legally sanctioning discrimination against them. The legislation—which Deputy Minister of Education Miroslaw Orzechowski has stated will be introduced within a month—would create a climate of intolerance and threaten the civil and political rights of Polish educators and of LGBT Poles in schools, especially youth.

The Polish government’s proposed legislation to censor all discussion of homosexuality in schools and other academic institutions would violate freedom of speech and impede free access to information, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

If the Prime Minister has refused to apologise for invading Iraq, he should at least accept responsibility for its consequences. Two million Iraqis have fled the violence unleashed by the invasion and occupation. And as the violence escalates, so does the exodus.

By allowing the deportation of a national security suspect to Jordan based on unenforceable promises of humane treatment, a British court decision on Monday threatens to undermine the global ban on torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

There is a chronic epidemic of torture in the Middle East and it feeds directly into political militancy, conflict and terrorism. Extremist groups like al-Qaida have long been led and inspired by victims of state torture.

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 European Parliament report adopted today on the role of EU states in CIA renditions tells only half the story when it comes to European complicity in torture, Human Rights Watch said in a new briefing paper on how some EU governments have also directly undermined the global ban on torture.

CIA flights are only half the story when it comes to European complicity in torture. Much less well-known is the fact that EU states themselves have directly undermined the global torture ban in the name of countering terrorism.

If ever the European Union were needed to promote human rights around the world, now is the time. The Bush administration's use of torture and detention without trial has decimated its credibility. With China professing at best indifference to governments' domestic rights practices and Russia coddling tyrants, the leadership mantle is there to be seized.

With US credibility undermined by the Bush administration's use of torture and detention without trial, the European Union must fill the leadership void on human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2007.

Spain must include vital human rights safeguards in its upcoming readmission agreement with Morocco for unaccompanied children, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, made public today. The preliminary document that is the basis for the agreement includes provisions that do not comply with Spain’s human rights obligations under national and international law.

A new report by the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee on illegal CIA activity in Europe is a powerful indictment of European governments’ complicity in CIA abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

Tony Blair's premiership started optimistically with the launch of an ethical foreign policy. It is ending with a depressing debate about how to balance national security with human rights and civil liberties at home in Britain. The implication is clear: in the face of the terrorist threat post-9/11 the government cannot guarantee the rights and liberties of its own citizens, let alone pursue policies which protect the rights and liberties of foreigners.

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.

This month's Queen's Speech looks set to contain legislation allowing national security to be weighed against concerns about torture. This would make it possible to send people back to countries where they risk torture - an extraordinary development in 21st-century Europe. More extraordinary still is the insistence that nothing in British attitudes has really changed.

In a major policy shift, the Dutch government’s recognition that lesbian and gay Iranians are a “special group” facing persecution at home and deserving protection in the Netherlands sets an example for other European states of their legal responsibility not to return people to the risk of torture, ill-treatment or execution, Human Rights Watch said today.

Many, if not most, of the European leaders meeting in Lahti tomorrow (20 October) are keen to ‘externalise’ the management of asylum-seekers and migrants.

European Union efforts to shift responsibility for migration to countries beyond EU borders threaten the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. On Friday, European leaders are expected to discuss migration at an EU informal summit in Lahti, Finland.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I am writing with regard to the existing moratorium on the deportation of gay and lesbian asylum-seekers to Iran--and to urge you in the strongest possible terms not to resume such deportations.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write to protest Sweden’s decision, announced on September 29, to resume deportations of rejected lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) asylum-seekers to Iran. The decision reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the human rights conditions in Iran; the stated rationale for it reflects an equally basic incomprehension of the essential need of all people—whatever their sexualities—to lead lives in honesty, free from fear.

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.

Thousands of Romanian children and youth living with HIV face widespread discrimination that keeps many of them from attending school, obtaining necessary medical care, working, or even learning about their medical condition, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write to address the failure of Latvian police and authorities to protect the physical security, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as it observed “Riga Pride 2006” on July 22. In the past, you have shown support for LGBT people’s equality and freedom to exercise their rights, and we call on you now to ensure that your government and all relevant Latvian authorities will undertake to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attacks on peaceful lesbian and gay pride activists in Riga, and guarantee that all persons’ rights are protected and respected in the future, without discrimination.

Latvian authorities should investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attacks on peaceful lesbian and gay pride activists in Riga on July 22, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis. Latvia must also adhere to its human rights obligations as a member of the European Union and the Council of Europe, and permit and protect future gay pride activities.

Latvian authorities must uphold their obligations to respect and observe human rights law by overturning a ban on a lesbian and gay rights demonstration, Human Rights Watch said today.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write to you in concern over a pattern of acts and statements by members of your government that seem intended to instigate violence, hatred and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland.

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. The assumption that legally unenforceable assurances could ever provide effective safeguards against torture is dangerous, and Human Rights Watch called on the Council of Europe to reject altogether reliance on diplomatic assurances in such cases.

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.

The inquiry under article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights focuses on member states’ laws and institutional structures and whether appropriate legal protections are in place to prevent or punish illegal activities, as well as on facts and specific information about such activities.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I am writing to protest your proposal to lift the existing moratorium on the deportation of gay and lesbian asylum seekers to Iran--and to object in the strongest possible terms to any actual resumption of expulsions of gay and lesbian asylum seekers to Iran.

Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk’s threat to end a six-month moratorium on deporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) asylum-seekers back to Iran rests on serious misunderstandings of Iranian law, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Verdonk. Deporting LGBT people to Iran would violate the Netherlands’ obligation to protect people from torture, ill-treatment, and possible execution.

The United Kingdom cannot deport security suspects at risk of torture to Algeria without violating international law. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after official talks in Algiers on February 16 that “good progress” had been made on a deportation agreement and that both countries wanted to sign “as soon as possible,” according to Reuters news agency.

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.

As a new government in Poland brings to power officials with long records of opposing gay and lesbian rights, it is more important than ever for the country’s leadership to affirm all citizens’ equality, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write in concern over a climate that increasingly threatens the basic rights and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Poland.

European governments should cooperate fully with investigations into alleged secret CIA detention centers in Europe and the unlawful transfer of detainees in CIA custody over European soil.

We are writing to urge you to ensure full cooperation with ongoing Council of Europe investigations into allegations by the media and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintained secret detention facilities on European soil during the last four years, to hold suspected terrorists.

We are writing to you about the draft anti-terrorism law currently under consideration in the Senate. Human Rights Watch would like to express our concerns about current provisions in the draft law that would increase the maximum duration of police custody for terrorism suspects without improving safeguards with respect to access to counsel and judicial supervision.

The unanimous ruling by Britain’s highest court that torture evidence can never be used in court proceedings is an important milestone, Human Rights Watch said today.

Council of Europe member states should flatly reject any proposals to establish standards for the use of diplomatic assurances in transfers of people to risk of torture, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists said in a joint submission published today.

In their eagerness to prevent future terrorist attacks, both the US and Britain have focused on intelligence gathering in lieu of prosecution. But that focus poses its own security threat by ignoring the problem of what to do with terrorist suspects once they are captured.

The United Kingdom cannot deport individuals to Libya without violating the international prohibition against sending persons to countries where they face a serious risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

A ruling by Britain’s highest court on the use of torture evidence is likely to have profound implications for the worldwide ban on torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Spanish government should immediately suspend the deportation of undocumented migrants to Morocco from the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, Human Rights Watch said today.

The British government’s proposal to extend the period that terrorism suspects can be detained without charge will undermine the rule of law and human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposal is one of several problematic measures contained in draft counterterrorism legislation published yesterday by the Home Office.

Over the years, non-governmental organisations have documented evidence of serious human rights violations linked to detention and removal operations of irregular migrants and rejected asylum-seekers across Europe. Similar concerns have been expressed by international human rights monitoring bodies, such as the UNHCR, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Migrants, and the Council of Europe. The undersigned NGOs deplore the increasing use of detention to deter asylum-seekers and migrants. Governments often justify detention as the only way to ensure an effective removal policy. The undersigned organisations question the validity of such an approach. Indeed, individuals are often detained even where the prospect of removal is unlikely because of the lack of co-operation from countries of origin or otherwise.

The United Kingdom should cancel plans to return failed asylum-seekers to Iraq at this time given unsafe conditions in that country, Human Rights Watch said today. The U.K. Home Office has already rounded up scores of Iraqis and detained them in deportation centers, suggesting that such returns may be imminent.

The United Kingdom cannot deport security suspects to Jordan without violating the international prohibition against sending persons to countries where they face a serious risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

In the days after the bombings of 7 July, there were many reasons to feel proud to be a Londoner. Politicians responded with dignity to the terrible events. People of all faiths stood together in the knowledge that those who had commissioned these crimes against humanity should be identified and prosecuted. The rule of law seemed to reign supreme.

(New York, July 7, 2005) —The bomb attacks in London today were an assault on the fundamental principle of respect for civilian life, and those responsible for this atrocity must be apprehended and brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch and Liberty are deeply concerned about the British government’s stated intention to seek diplomatic assurances against torture in order to deport terrorism suspects to their home countries or to third countries where they would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Human Rights Watch and Liberty consider returns on the basis of such assurances as incompatible with the international prohibition on the return of persons to countries where they face a risk of torture (nonrefoulement). We urge you to reconsider this fatally flawed initiative and immediately to halt any negotiations with countries of return regarding securing such assurances.

Sweden violated the absolute ban on torture by expelling a terrorism suspect to Egypt, the United Nations Committee Against Torture ruled today. Sweden justified the transfer saying it secured assurances from Egypt that the suspect would not be tortured upon return.

Governments in Europe and North America are increasingly sending alleged terrorism suspects and others to abusive states based on so-called “diplomatic assurances” of humane treatment that expose these individuals to serious risk of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (ill-treatment) upon return. Countries offering such assurances have included those where torture and other ill-treatment are often practiced, as well as those where members of particular groups are routinely singled out for the worst forms of abuse.

Governments in Europe and North America are increasingly sending suspects to abusive states on the basis of flimsy “diplomatic assurances” that expose the detainees to serious risk of torture and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 falls foul of the United Kingdom’s human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, which allows for control orders restricting the freedom of terrorism suspects, was rushed through Parliament in response to a December 2004 ruling by Britain’s highest court that the indefinite detention of foreign terrorism suspects breached human rights law.

The fundamental human rights concerns raised by the Prevention of Terrorism Bill have yet to be addressed, Human Rights Watch said in briefing paper released today. The third and final reading of the Bill in the House of Lords is due tomorrow, March 3.

Human Rights Watch condemns today’s bomb attack in Madrid and expresses its compassion for those injured. The car bomb exploded around 9:30 this morning in the Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I. More than 40 people were injured by the blast. A person claiming to represent ETA issued a warning shortly before the blast. No-one has claimed responsibility. It is the worst attack in Madrid since the devastating train bombings of March 11, 2004.

Spain is right to fight terrorism through the criminal justice system, but its counterterrorism measures still infringe basic rights of suspects charged with terrorist acts, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The British government has said it is seeking “diplomatic assurances” that terrorism suspects deported to their home countries will not be tortured there. It argues that, on receipt of such assurances, the men—many of whom have been held without trial for more than two years—could safely be deported. But experience shows that these assurances are an ineffective safeguard against torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

The government has an obligation to protect those who reside in the UK. It also has a duty to safeguard the country's fundamental values. We have seen little evidence that the current counter-terrorism strategy has made Britain a safer place. Yet it has eroded the ban on torture, undermined the principle of equality under the law and weakened the right to a fair trial. The Law Lords have a historic opportunity to restore the balance. All those who care about liberty must hope they seize it.

Britain’s highest court will begin deliberations on October 4 in a landmark challenge to the government’s indefinite detention of foreign terrorism suspects, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch writes as a matter of urgency regarding the case of Nuriye Kesbir and the real risk of torture and ill-treatment she will face upon return to Turkey if extradited by the government of the Netherlands.

Human Rights Watch writes as a matter of urgency regarding the case of Nuriye Kesbir and the real risk of torture and ill-treatment she will face upon return to Turkey if extradited by the government of the Netherlands. We are also deeply concerned about the Dutch authorities’ growing reliance upon diplomatic assurances to extradite people to countries where they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment. In the case of Nuriye Kesbir, any assurances given by the Turkish authorities that Ms. Kesbir would not be tortured or ill-treated, and that she would have a fair trial upon return, would not be reliable, particularly in light of Turkey’s failure to adequately monitor those responsible for complying with legal safeguards against torture and the authorities’ past record in cases where such guarantees have been at issue.

The Egyptian military court conviction of accused terrorism suspect Ahmed Agiza, who was convicted on April 27, violated fair trial standards and failed to address his allegations that he was tortured, Human Rights Watch said today. Sweden expelled Agiza in 2001 after the Egyptian government promised that he would not be subject to torture or an unfair trial upon return.

As international human rights nongovernmental organizations, we would like to begin by reiterating our firm recognition expressed at last June’s OSCE conference on anti-Semitism of anti-Semitism as a serious human rights violation, and, flowing from this recognition, our conviction of the need to monitor and report on anti-Semitism, and engage in efforts to combat it, as part of our work.

Individuals suspected of terrorism should never be returned to a country where they risk torture and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today. Promises of fair treatment by states with well-known records of torture are inherently unreliable, and governments that justify returns through such promises, known as “diplomatic assurances,” are violating the absolute prohibition against torture and eroding a fundamental principle of international law.

Today's verdict in the Rotterdam trial of an accused Congolese torturer will help make the Netherlands a 'no-go' zone for perpetrators of serious human rights crimes.

The European Union’s proposal on asylum procedures violates international human rights and refugee law and should be withdrawn, a group of leading nongovernmental organizations said today. In an unprecedented move, refugee and human rights organizations across Europe are jointly calling on the European Union to scrap one of the key elements leading to the proposed Common European Asylum System.

In an unprecedented move, Human Rights Watch and other human rights and refugee organizations across Europe call on the European Union to withdraw proposals for new asylum procedures. The groups contend that the proposals violate member states' obligations under international law.

(New York, March 11, 2004)—Today’s train bombings in Madrid were an assault on the fundamental principle of respect for civilian life, and those responsible for this atrocity must be apprehended and brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

(New York, February 27, 2004)—The proposed French law banning Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols in state schools would violate the rights to freedom of religion and expression, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, which forbids “signs and dress that conspicuously show the religious affiliation of students,” will be debated in the French Senate on March 2.

Dear Minister Verdonk,

Human Rights Watch is writing to express deep concern regarding current Dutch proposals to deport thousands of failed asylum seekers. We understand that approximately 2,300 asylum seekers will be granted status under an amnesty program, and that approximately 26,000 failed asylum seekers will no longer be eligible for community-based social assistance and will be deported or otherwise returned within the next three years.

Dutch proposals to deport thousands of failed asylum seekers put their safety at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The Dutch parliament is expected to adopt the proposals in a final vote next week.

Human Rights Watch is writing as a matter of urgent concern regarding the case of Hanan Attia. Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned that Ms. Attia and her children were not afforded access to a full and fair asylum determination procedure when they first applied for asylum in Sweden, and that the national security concerns surrounding the case of Ms. Attia’s husband, Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza, have unduly prejudiced any independent claims that Ms. Attia and her family might have to remain in Sweden.

Human Rights Watch’s principal concerns when it comes to human rights conditions in the European Union today fall into
three broad categories: (1) treatment of migrants and refugees; (2) human rights implications of counter-terrorism measures;
and (3) racism and intolerance, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and widespread discrimination against Roma.

New approaches to asylum being considered in the United Kingdom and the European Union threaten the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and migrants, Human Rights Watch said today.

The right to be free from racial discrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights law -- and a fundamental principle of the human rights the OSCE upholds. Under international human rights law, states are obliged to combat discrimination in all its forms.

Recognizing anti-Semitism as a serious human rights violation, we also recognize our own responsibility to take on this issue as part of our work. It should not be left to Jewish groups alone to highlight this issue and to appeal to the international community to address it. We are firmly committed to joining their ongoing efforts and to helping to bring problems of anti-Semitism into the overall human rights discourse.

Governments attending the European Council meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece, should reject the United Kingdom's so-called "new vision" proposal to send asylum seekers to processing centers abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a 20-page briefing paper released today.

Human Rights Watch is concerned about four areas in which safeguards against torture appear to be vulnerable in the European Union: the promulgation and implementation of anti-terrorism laws that can facilitate acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CID); conditions of detention for suspected terrorists that can amount to torture/CID; the repatriation/refoulement of terrorist suspects to countries where they could be subject to torture; and the use of E.U. member states' territory for interrogations that could subject detainees to torture/CID.

Critical aspects of Dutch asylum policy violate international refugee standards, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

Dear Prime Minister: We write to urge you to take steps to ensure that torture does not take place on British soil, including the islands that are part of British Indian Ocean Territory. According to press reports in the United States, U.S. forces are holding and interrogating suspected al-Qaeda detainees at a U.S. operated facility on the island of Diego Garcia. ("U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations," the Washington Post, December 26, 2002).

On the occasion of the Committee's consideration of the Spanish government's ("the government") Fourth
Periodic Report, scheduled for November 12-13, 2002, Human Rights Watch submits published documentary
information concerning the government's policies and practices relating to the treatment of adult and child
migrants.