REDRESS - Seeking Reparation for Torture Survivors

REDRESS' work in this area is aimed at ensuring that States' counter-terrorism efforts respect and guarantee the right to be free from torture at all costs. REDRESS published a study on the relationship between counter-terrorism measures and the absolute prohibition against torture in late 2004 and is involved as interested parties in several legal challenges in the United Kingdom in which the relationship between counter-terrorism and human rights is at issue. We are also interveners in a Commission of Inquiry that was established in Canada after one of its citizen's, a dual Canadian Syrian national flying on a Canadian passport, was taken out of airport transit in the United States and rendered to Syria, where he spent a year in detention and was reportedly severely tortured.

Extraordinary Rendition

This practice refers to the transferring of persons to, or placing them into the custody of, countries where there is a substantial likelihood that they will face torture. There is a substantial body of reports of transfers to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Thailand, Qatar, Uzbekistan and to US bases in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. Reports suggest that the practice has also been used to transfer persons to US military bases and CIA prisons in foreign countries. Not only is torture a consequence of such transfers, but increasingly there is evidence that the transfers to such locations are undertaken with a view to, using torture and other illegal interrogation techniques to gather evidence in the 'war on terror'.

These transfers rarely occur without the acquiescence, collaboration, assistance or support of third countries. If such countries stop such cooperation, the extraordinary renditions programme will ultimately fail.

REDRESS' Work on 'Extraordinary Renditions':

Comments to the Committee against torture in consideration of Sweden's fifth periodic report - April 2008

Letter from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and REDRESS urging the Assembly's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to consider requesting a mandate to report on investigations being carried out by Council of Europe member states about the use of territory and role of state agents in the US led-renditions and secret detention programme - 17 March 2008

Smoke and Mirrors Remain - Intelligence & Security Committee Report Does Not End Concerns Over Torture, Renditions And The Rule Of Law – Positive Obligation To Respond To ‘Extraordinary Renditions’ Remains, 30 July 2007

Time To End The Smoke and Mirrors: Positive Obligations to Respond to “Extraordinary Renditions”, Memorandum to the UK Government, 17 July 2007

Protecting Citizens from Torture Abroad:
CONFERENCE ON FOREIGN POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS,
13 September 2006

Written Evidence Submitted to the United Kingdom Joint Committee on Human Rights, 22 December 2005

REDRESS' Policy Review Submission, Submitted to the Commission of Enquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, September 2005

REDRESS' Opening Statement, Submitted to the Arar Commission, June 2004

Relevant Documents:

Latest Report of Terry Davis (16 June 2006) and latest resolution and recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (27 June 2006)

Opinion 3 - 2006, by the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights (CFR-CDF) : The Human Rights responsibilities of the EU Member States in the context of the CIA activites in Europe (extraordinary renditions) (25 May 2006)

Research note by the EP Legal Service on international law concerning the prohibition of torture: its applicability in the European Union Member States and its interpretation by the United States government ( April 2006)

Deportation and Non-Refoulement

International law recognises that it is impermissible under any circumstances to deport or send someone to a third country where they face a real risk of torture. The land mark decision of the European Court of Human Rights is the case of Chahal, which relates to an Indian national based in the UK who risked torture on return to India. The decision of the European Court recognised that this prohibition from sending someone to a third country where they risk torture is ABSOLUTE - there are no exceptions, not even in relation to terrorist suspects.

The UK government has argued that such deportation should be allowed, particularly when the government obtains 'diplomatic assurances' from the receiving government that the individuals will not be tortured. REDRESS has argued that such assurances, and the Memorandums of Understanding that have since been put into place with a number of countries, are not capable of providing real protection against torture.

REDRESS recently intervened together with a number of international NGOs in the case of Ramzy v The Netherlands, before the European Court of Human Rights, coordinated by INTERIGHTS. Mr. Ramzy is an Algerian national based in the Netherlands who claims that he will face torture if returned there. A number of governments (including the UK) intervened in the case

Khouzam v. Chertoff: OMCT and REDRESS amicus curiae brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Non-Refoulement Under Threat: Proceedings of a Seminar Held Jointly by The REDRESS Trust (REDRESS) and The Immigration Law Practioners' Association (ILPA), 16 May 2006

Ramzy v. The Netherlands
Written Comments - Annex

REDRESS' Submissions to the Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry on Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights, 14 October 2005

Diplomatic Agreements Cannot Be Used to Return People to Torture, 12 August 2005
Press Statement

Torture Evidence

Landmark House of Lords' Decision in Torture Case
Statement - Judgment

A Resounding No to the Use of Torture Evidence, 17 October 2005
Press Statement

NGO Submission in the Case of A v. The Secretary of State for The Home Department

UK Court Rules Torture "Evidence" is Admissible

UK Troops Abroad

Memorandum from REDRESS to House of Commons Defence Committee on UK Operations in Iraq, July 2007