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Resolution 1539 (2007)
The United States of America and international law
1. The United States of America, an
observer state to the Council of Europe, has traditionally been
and remains Europe’s long-standing ally in resisting tyranny, upholding
the rule of law and defending human rights. Since the Second World
War, the United States has led efforts to create a modern, multilateral,
rule-based system of international law and has been among the principal
driving forces in establishing the current architecture of international
institutions.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly recognises that the United States
remains strongly committed to a significant number of international
legal norms, particularly those that promote economic interests.
However, especially since the events of 11 September 2001, and in
pursuit of its so-called “war on terror”, the American Administration
has inappropriately and unilaterally disregarded certain key human
rights and humanitarian legal norms considered by it to be overly
constraining or otherwise inappropriate in view of the perceived
new situation. In so doing, it has done a disservice to the cause
of justice and rule of law and has tarnished its own hard-won reputation
as a beacon in defending human rights and in upholding well-established
rules of international law.
3. More specifically, the United States:
3.1. continues unlawfully to detain persons in Guantánamo and
elsewhere (see Assembly Resolutions
1340 (2003) and 1433
(2005)), in flagrant breach of its international obligations,
in particular under the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the 1949 Geneva Conventions
as well as other rules of international humanitarian law with respect
to the treatment of persons captured or detained in the context
of an international armed conflict;
3.2. has maintained – at least until very recently – a “spider’s
web” of secret detention centres and unlawful inter-state transfer
routes, often in collaboration with countries notorious for their
use of torture (see Assembly Resolution
1507 (2006)), a behaviour which is incompatible with
UN and Council of Europe human rights standards;
3.3. by negotiating bilateral immunity agreements with parties
and non-parties to the statute of the International Criminal Court
(ICC), and exercising considerable pressure on some countries to
enter into such agreements, has attempted to undermine the effectiveness
of this body, which has jurisdiction over the international crime
of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when states
are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute crimes;
3.4. despite recent encouraging national judicial findings,
including those of its Supreme Court, has not made any efforts to
abolish the death penalty (see Assembly Recommendation 1760 (2006)).
4. The Assembly strongly urges the United States authorities,
in particular its parliamentary colleagues in the Congress and in
state legislatures, to do their utmost to bring an end to this abnormal
and unacceptable situation. It reminds the United States authorities
that the country has paid a high price in terms of loss of international
credibility for actions taken in Abu Ghraib prison, Guantánamo Bay
and more generally in Iraq, without much evidence that greater security
has been obtained. More significantly, the failure to guarantee basic
human rights, especially those relating to the treatment of detainees,
and the reluctance to co-operate with the ICC, has made it more
difficult for the United States to work with allies in mounting
an appropriate response to the very real threat posed by international
terrorism.
5. The Assembly recalls that the United States and Europe share
fundamental common values and pursue the same goal of promoting
and strengthening respect for human rights and the reinforcement
of the rule of law. Indeed, few countries are able to rival the
impressive case law of the US Supreme Court, whose judgments have
often curtailed unfettered executive powers, guaranteeing the separation
of powers and, as the recent Hamdan case has illustrated, respect
for well-established international legal standards.
6. Finally, the Assembly, composed of parliamentarians from 46
European countries, reiterates its readiness to enter into dialogue
with its fellow parliamentarians in the US Congress, as well as
at state level, be it on the subject of the lawfulness of detentions
at Guantánamo Bay “to pursue this issue further through bilateral
dialogue” (Resolution
1433 (2005), paragraph 11), or the abolition of the death
penalty (Resolution 1349
(2003) and Recommendation
1760 (2006)), or to provide the necessary impetus to
launch, in partnership with the United States, a truly global strategy
to address the terrorist threat and which “should conform in all
its elements with the fundamental principles of our common heritage
in terms of democracy, human rights and respect for the rule of
law” (Recommendation
1754 (2006), sub-paragraph 4.1).