Dangerous Deals: Europe’s Reliance on ‘Diplomatic Assurances’ against Torture documents how European governments attempt to send foreigners alleged to be threats to national security to countries where they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment in exchange for unreliable, unenforceable “diplomatic assurances” that they will be treated humanely on return.

Sami Ben Khemais Essid was deported from Italy to Tunisia in June 2008 on the promise of Tunisian officials that he would not be ill-treated in custody there. However, eight months after his return, he alleged that he was tortured during an interrogation at the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior.

“You can not trust the torturers. Promises from states that use torture are not worth much,” said John Peder Egenæs, Secretary General of Amnesty International Norway.

Dangerous deals
The report challenges that claim by providing research and analysis on how diplomatic assurances threaten the global ban on torture or other ill-treatment and how inherent deficiencies in the practice have led to some people being tortured and ill-treated.

States violate human rights by sending people back to countries that are known to use torture.

“European governments that accept these hollow promises are undermining the absolute prohibition of torture. They promise not to torture this individual, but will still continue to torture others”, continues Egenæs (picture on the right).

Widely used in the war on terror
The report focuses on the use of diplomatic assurances by a number of European governments to justify deporting, extraditing, or otherwise forcibly removing foreigners deemed “threats to national security”. The use of diplomatic assurances against torture has increased considerably following the 11 September 2001 attacks. Some states have developed specific laws or policies that enshrine the practice.

Both the national courts and the European Court of Human Rights have, however, often stopped sending out people, on the basis of the absolute ban on torture.

So far Amnesty International does not possess information about Norway sending out people to countries which use tortures despite diplomatic assurances of not doing so. But a dozen European countries have done or had the intention to do so, including Germany, Italy and the UK. People forcibly returned to Egypt and the Russian Federation will experience human rights violations or be tortured, despite the fact these countries have given diplomatic assurances not to do so.