AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: EUR 44/010/2006 (Public)

News Service No: 150

9 June 2006

Turkey: The draft revisions to the Law to Fight Terrorism are wide-ranging, arbitrary and restrictive

Published

Amnesty International is concerned that the “Draft Law revising some articles of the Law to Fight Terrorism [Law 3713 of 12/4/1991]” presented to the Turkish parliament on 18 April 2006 – and currently again being scrutinized by the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission before being resubmitted to parliament – contains sweeping and draconian provisions which may in practice contravene international human rights law and facilitate violations of the human rights of individuals. The organization considers that the draft law is dominated by a security agenda which poses a fundamental threat to individual freedoms, including the rights to freedom of expression and to fair trial. In the new draft law the definition of terrorism found in the existing Law to Fight Terrorism of 1991 has not been amended and remains too broadly drawn and vague. Of equal concern, the new draft law dramatically increases the spectrum of crimes potentially punishable as terrorist offences. Accordingly, if the law enters into force, many more individuals may find themselves categorized as “terrorists” and subjected to trial in heavy penal courts whose remit is organized crime and terrorist offences, and to the harsher sanctions provided for in anti-terrorism legislation.

Amnesty International has in the past expressed deep concern over the introduction of draconian anti-terrorism laws in other jurisdictions. Not least among these has been legislation introduced in the UK, including the Terrorism Act 2000 and, most recently, the Terrorism Act 2006 introduced at the end of March 2006.

Amnesty International reminds the Turkish government and the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission currently scrutinizing the draft law of the necessity of ensuring that all measures taken to combat terrorism comply with Turkey’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law. This has been expressed repeatedly by the UN Security Council, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, among others.

Amnesty International reminds the Turkish government and the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission of the Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism which state, in particular, that:

II. All measures taken by States to fight terrorism must respect human rights and the principle of the rule of law, while excluding any form of arbitrariness, as well as any discriminatory or racist treatment, and must be subject to appropriate supervision.

III.1. All measures taken by States to combat terrorism must be lawful.

III.2. When a measure restricts human rights, restrictions must be defined as precisely as possible and be necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued.

IV. The use of torture or of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, is absolutely prohibited, in all circumstances, and in particular during the arrest, questioning and detention of a person suspected of or convicted of terrorist activities, irrespective of the nature of the acts that the person is suspected of or for which he/she was convicted.

Amnesty International today published a briefing on the key draft revisions to the Law to Fight Terrorism: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR44/009/2006

(1) See respectively, United Kingdom: Briefing on the Terrorism Bill (AI Index: EUR 45/43/00) and United Kingdom: Amnesty International’s Briefing on the Draft Terrorism Bill 2005 (AI Index: EUR 45/038/2005).

(2) See respectively, UNSC Resolution 1456 (2003), Annex para.6; Aksoy v Turkey (1996) 23 EHRR 553, para. 62; Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism, 11 July 2002; UN Doc. S/RES/1624 (2005), para. 4.

(3) Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight Against Terrorism, H(2002)4.

Public Document

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