Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture

By: Human Rights Watch

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Synopsis: The 91-page report, Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture, documents the growing practice among Western governments-including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands-of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture. The report details a dozen cases involving actual or attempted transfers to countries where torture is commonplace. States that offer such assurances include some of the most abusive regimes in the world-Syria, Egypt and Uzbekistan. Transfers have also been effected or proposed to Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Russia, and Turkey, where certain people-for example, suspected Islamists, Chechens, or Kurds-are singled out for particularly brutal abuse. As the cases show, evidence is mounting that people who are returned to states that torture are in fact tortured, regardless of diplomatic assurances. And courts are increasingly recognizing the problem, and subjecting diplomatic assurances to greater scrutiny.

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