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Resolution 2090 (2016)
Combating international terrorism while protecting Council of Europe standards and values
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is increasingly
concerned about international terrorism, which has in recent years
claimed huge numbers of innocent victims throughout the world, and
in particular in Council of Europe member States and their direct
neighbourhood. In 2015, 625 people were murdered and more than 800
injured during eight terrorist attacks in France, Turkey, Egypt,
Iraq, Lebanon and Tunisia. In 2016, several dozen people have already
been murdered in terrorist attacks in Turkey, Burkina Faso and Indonesia.
2. Responsibility for all these terrorist attacks was claimed
by terrorist groups which call themselves “Islamic”. Daesh was responsible
for the recent terrorist attacks in Europe and its direct neighbourhood, whereas
Boko Haram has probably killed the highest number of innocent people.
Other terrorist groups that have been active in recent years, and
that claim to be based on Islam, are al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab.
3. The Assembly emphasises the dramatic consequences of these
terrorist acts and threats on individuals, and on our societies.
Besides the tragedy of innocent people losing their lives, being
injured and traumatised, growing unrest, mistrust and fear destabilise
our societies. Moreover, countermeasures may lead to abuse and disproportionate
restrictions on individual freedoms and also mobilise large amounts
of public funds which cannot be used for other purposes.
4. Recalling its Resolution
2031 (2015) “Terrorist attacks in Paris: together for
a democratic response”, the Assembly reiterates that all the above-mentioned
terrorist massacres were attacks against the very values of democracy
and freedom in general, against the type of society that our pan-European
Organisation has aimed at building since the end of the Second World
War.
5. The Assembly reaffirms once again its strong condemnation
of all acts of terrorism. No arguments can justify them. The Assembly
rejects any attempt to excuse terrorist attacks as they go completely
against the spirit of the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS
No. 5) and the standards and values it enshrines.
6. The Assembly applauds the many and various ways in which individuals,
groups and societies have protested during the past year against
acts of terrorism. It recalls that, on 11 January 2015, about 2
million people, including more than 40 world leaders, gathered together
in Paris for a rally of unity, and that 3.7 million people joined
demonstrations across Europe and elsewhere around the globe.
7. The Assembly emphatically rejects the abuse of the description
“Islamic” by terrorist criminal organisations. Neither Daesh nor
similar terrorist groups have any right to claim they act in the
name of Islam, or that they represent the Muslim community. On the
contrary, most of their victims to date are Muslims: they have been
and are still being terrorised, abused, exploited, tortured and
massacred by these terrorist groups, whereas their religion is slandered
by the abusive use of the term “Islamic” by these very groups.
8. The Assembly recognises the invidious position in which these
attacks place Muslims and calls on political leaders to take particular
care in condemning such attacks to avoid making stigmatising generalisations
that portray whole groups of the population as responsible for the
acts of individuals. At the same time, it encourages Muslim leaders
and intellectuals to publicly, clearly and continually condemn the shameful
abuse of their religion by fanatical murderers, whose goal is to
intimidate individuals and States using all kinds of violence against
innocent people. It calls on Muslim leaders to emphasise that Muslims,
as well as followers of other religions, greatly benefit from the
protection of their rights and freedoms by the European Convention
on Human Rights, and that, also for that reason, their communities
should fiercely and publicly defend the Council of Europe standards
and values against terrorists who threaten them.
9. After the recent terrorist attacks, many politicians declared
a state of war with Daesh. However, those who commit terrorist acts
are not soldiers of an army, representing any State or international
organisation, but ruthless criminals who commit heinous crimes against
innocent people in order to destabilise our societies. Recalling
its Resolution 1840 (2011) on
human rights and the fight against terrorism, the Assembly reaffirms that
the concept of “war on terror” is misleading and unhelpful and therefore
might be a threat to the entire framework of international human
rights.
10. The Assembly reiterates that democracies have the inalienable
right, and the inseparable obligation, to defend themselves when
attacked. It thus finds that the fight against terrorism must be
reinforced while ensuring respect for human rights, the rule of
law and the common values upheld by the Council of Europe. It underlines
that combating terrorism and protecting Council of Europe standards
and values are not contradictory but complementary.
11. While acknowledging the need for member States to have access
to sufficient legal instruments to combat terrorism efficiently,
the Assembly warns against the risk that counterterrorism measures
may introduce disproportionate restrictions or sap democratic control
and thus violate fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, in the
name of safeguarding State security.
12. In this respect, the Assembly echoes the concerns expressed
by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights on France’s
decision, in November 2015, to declare a state of emergency and
to later prolong it. It also echoes the concerns of the United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that in Turkey
“in the context of the fight against terrorism, the enforcement
of anti-terrorism legislation and security-oriented policies have
reportedly resulted in racial profiling of members of the Kurdish
community”. The Assembly is concerned that the security crackdown
might spread to other Council of Europe member States.
13. The Assembly is also concerned that, in spite of the worldwide
adoption, in 1999, of the United Nations Convention on the Suppression
of the Financing of Terrorism and the entry into force, in 2008,
of the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure
and Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism
(CETS No. 198), until now it has been impossible to cut off the
financial lifelines of Daesh, which therefore remains the richest
terrorist organisation ever, able to sell oil, gas and stolen archaeological
objects to others in return for tens of millions of dollars each
month.
14. Referring also to its Resolution
2091 (2016) on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, the
Assembly welcomes the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe of the Additional Protocol to the Convention
on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 217) on foreign terrorist
fighters, as it had called for in its Resolution 2031 (2015).
15. It also welcomes the proposal for a directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council on combating terrorism.
16. The Assembly therefore calls on the parliaments and governments
of member States to ensure that, in their fight against terrorism:
16.1. when adopting and implementing
legislation or other administrative measures, a fair balance is struck
between defending freedom and security, on the one hand, and avoiding
the violation of those very rights, on the other;
16.2. a state of emergency is limited to the strict minimum
in both time and space, regardless of whether such a state is declared
under Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights or results
from a de facto situation
either in the whole or part of their territory;
16.3. law-enforcement bodies do not abuse their powers or circumvent
basic legal requirements and do not disproportionately restrict
individual freedoms, in line with the European Convention on Human Rights
and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; any administrative
decisions taken in this context should always be subject to judicial
review;
16.4. there is no ethnic or racial profiling of suspects subjected
to search and seizure operations, arrests or other coercive measures;
16.5. there is effective democratic oversight exercised by both
the parliament and other independent actors, such as national human
rights institutions and civil society;
16.6. appropriate means and training are granted to law-enforcement
bodies and security and intelligence services to cope with the rising
threat of terrorism, including the new challenges posed by the so-called
“jihadist” threat;
16.7. intelligence services refrain from indiscriminate mass
surveillance, which has proven to be inefficient, and instead increase
their collaboration; co-operation with other democracies as well
as with countries in the Middle East and the Arab world is also
important;
16.8. pertinent national records related to terrorist offences
and information on airline passengers posing security threats are
shared, subject to appropriate data-protection guarantees;
16.9. the financial lifelines of international terrorism and
arms trafficking are cut off, including through the effective implementation
of United Nations and Council of Europe conventions against the
financing of terrorism.
17. The Assembly calls on the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe to follow counterterrorist measures taken by the member
States, evaluate their necessity and proportionality, as appropriate,
in the context of an inquiry under Article 52 of the European Convention
on Human Rights, and keep the Assembly regularly informed.
18. With a view to strengthening legal action against terrorism,
the Assembly calls on Council of Europe member States and neighbouring
countries to sign and ratify, as a matter of priority, the Council
of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196)
and its new additional protocol, if they have not already done so.
19. The Assembly underlines that concerns about repressive responses
to terrorism must not obscure the need for our societies also to
work constantly to ensure that all their members are included. It
urges member States to do their utmost to eradicate breeding grounds
for terrorism and religious fanaticism, especially through education,
social policies and an inclusive society. Concrete measures should
be taken to prevent and fight radicalisation, in particular in schools,
disadvantaged neighbourhoods, prisons and on the Internet and social
media, in line also with Assembly Resolution 2031 (2015).
20. The Assembly welcomes the implementation to date of the Action
Plan on the fight against violent extremism and radicalisation leading
to terrorism, adopted in May 2015 by the Committee of Ministers,
which provides for a number of targeted activities capable of supporting
and reinforcing the efforts of member States at national and international
levels. Noting that the full implementation of the action plan depends
on extra-budgetary resources, the Assembly calls on member States
to consider allocating voluntary contributions for this purpose.
21. Finally, with a view to providing law-makers in particular
with a sound constitutional basis, the Assembly asks the European
Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) for
an opinion on the compatibility of the proposed draft revision of
the French Constitution, aimed at incorporating rules governing a
state of emergency and on the deprivation of nationality into the
constitution, with the European Convention on Human Rights and with
Council of Europe standards.