Human rights on the scrap-heap?

Date: 15/06/06

Ursula Plassnik, the foreign minister of Austria, the current holder of the EU presidency, did away with the usual diplomacy when addressing the European Parliament last month. "Guant�mo Bay is an anomaly...the United States must take measures to close the camp as soon as possible," she said.

The sudden call to close the camp follows more than three years of European unease over the detention of hundreds of prisoners without trial. Plassnik's move received new impetus this week following three suicides at the camp - the first deaths since the US began detaining al-Qaeda suspects there. The remark by a top US official that the suicides were a "good PR move" has again prompted people in Europe to question the treatment of those held at the camp.

By saying the camp should close, the EU is reflecting its citizens' fears about what it represents - that the US, the EU's closest economic, political and military power, is not behaving in the manner that Europeans expect when it comes to justice and civil liberties.

Guant�mo - or Camp Delta - is not the only issue troubling Europeans. A number of inquiries on this side of the Atlantic are investigating the seizure, detention and movement of suspects by the CIA in Europe. Reports by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe have concluded that such rendition flights did take place and that European governments knew about them. Although the reports are scant on facts, investigations in Italy and Germany into the seizure and detention of two alleged suspects confirm in many minds that the current US justice and security standards are not what they should be.

The US has lost the trust to police abroad, says Dana Allin, senior fellow for transatlantic relations at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The majority of European citizens are not willing to give the US the benefit of the doubt," he says.

The issue over the transfer of airline passenger data has highlighted this. In the aftermath of 9/11, the EU agreed a deal with the US to hand over up to 32 pieces of information about passengers flying to the US. But the Parliament was unhappy at what it saw as the transfer of information to possibly numerous agencies for undefined purposes. A challenge to the agreement saw it struck down by the European Court of Justice last month because the legal basis used to introduce it was wrong. But the parliament is adamant that the type of content, the manner in which it is given and safeguards on who gets the information and what it is used for must be reopened.

Guant�mo Bay and allegations of CIA activity in Europe are not the only concerns. The US treatment of its own citizens, with phone-tappings and tough new laws to combat terrorism have contributed to the unease.

From the US perspective, Europeans are simply not taking seriously the threat that the world faces. Top US officials have publicly admitted that rendition flights have taken place and the US has never been shy about explaining its reasons as to why the Geneva Convention should not apply to the Guant�mo Bay detainees. Americans are not the only ones benefiting from tough action which is also helping to "save European lives", said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a trip to Europe. "We share intelligence that has helped protect European countries from attack," she added.

Indeed the US has made clear that if Europe continued to question American tactics in gathering intelligence, then the sharing of that intelligence might stop.

The difference in stance over what is acceptable action to take in the field of justice and security can be reduced to a simple point, says Allin. "It comes down to the idea of an emergency and the over-riding notion is not accepted in Europe," he says. The US sees itself in the midst of a war while Europe believes the terrorism problem is a continuing threat. But these notions might change with a new leadership in the US, Allin says: "Bush is one of the most unpopular presidents in history and human rights has never been top of his list."

Author says that the Bush administration's lack of respect for the Geneva Convention was facing continuing criticism and that the EU could struggle to change this policy before the election of a new President in 2009.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'EU-US Relations'.