Zwarte lijst voor terroristen niet door mensenrechtentoets?

EU mechanisms for blacklisting terrorists need to be revised, as they fail to guarantee respect for fundamental rights and lack democratic scrutiny, said MEPs in the Civil Liberties Committee during a debate on Monday with Council of Europe's rapporteur on the topic, Dick Marty. The blacklisting system, created in 2001, is used to impose restrictive measures against people or entities suspected of terrorism.

The EU blacklist system, set up in order to freeze the assets and restrict the movements of terrorists and their organisations across Europe, was criticised in a recent report by the Council of Europe as lacking transparency and compliance with the rule of law. Its rapporteur and Council of Europe committee chairman Dick Marty shared his views with MEPs and called for a revision of the system, including setting up an independent body to control the mechanisms used by the EU Council to decide who goes on the EU blacklist.

Short-circuiting the law

"I am not putting in question the principle of having terrorist blacklists. They can be useful at an initial stage, but only for a limited period of time, after which the Court and legal authorities have to act", Mr Marty said, adding that "the procedures need to be made more fair and transparent - the rule of law cannot be short-circuited like that".

No way off the list

"Once a person is included in the United Nations and EU terror lists, there is no possible procedure for taking him or her off that list, since the country in question is bound to follow the instructions of the EU Council, without knowing the detailed reasons for it", continued Mr Marty. "In the current situation, there is no way to de-list people, so their assets are frozen and their movements restricted, regardless of their claim to innocence", and there is also no provision for compensation in the event of mistakes. This "violates the substantive principle of free trial", he said.

There but for the grace of God go I

Mr Marty called for an independent authority to be established to supervise the blacklisting system, noting that "today, most of the people targeted are Muslims, but tomorrow this person could be you or me". He later told the "Kafkaesque" story of a man who realised he was blacklisted while he was trying to pay for his hotel in London when the card was refused, and then could not even get information about his case for years.

Claudio Fava (PES, IT), compared the EU blacklist system with the CIA extraordinary renditions of terrorism suspects. "Again, we found episodes where people were suspected while they had nothing to do with terrorism", he said. 

Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, DE), said that the lack of fairness and transparency could make blacklisting counterproductive, by turning the people suspected into victims : "if we foster sympathy among people for terrorists, then that's totally wrong", he added.

Rethinking blacklists

Soren Bo Sondergaard (GUE/NGL, DK) said that "since 2001, the People's Mujahedin of Iran (an organisation which the EU Court of First Instance said should be removed from the EU blacklist), have distanced themselves from terrorist action, but remain on the black list. This system encourages them to continue on the way of violence" he said.

Urszula Gacek (EPP-ED, PL), wondered how the possibility of criminalising the mere incitement or glorification of terrorism "could affect the whole procedure of blacklisting". The possibility of classifying the justification of terrorism as a crime was recently discussed by MEPs in an own-initiative report by Gérard Deprez (ALDE, BE), on factors favouring support for terrorism, to be put to a plenary vote on 19 February.

Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg (Greens/EFA, NL), finally suggested that "we should start the whole process of blacklisting anew", with the new procedures agreed in the Council of ministers such as the obligation to notify the person concerned of his or her inclusion in the list. "Maybe it would make it a more acceptable instrument?" she wondered.

18/02/2008

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

In the chair: : Gérard Deprez (ALDE, BE)