UNLOCK THE TRUTH
European government complicity in US-led secret detention and rendition.Following 9/11 US agents operating in countries around the world secretly transferred people who were suspected of links to terrorism from country to country. Most were held without charge or trial, sometimes for years, in what became known as the ‘rendition’ programme. These secret operations violated international law and often involved multiple human rights violations. Prisoners were subjected to enforced disappearance, secret detention, torture and other ill-treatment. European governments allowed the US to use their airspace and airports, some hosted secret CIA prisons.
The human story
Hear directly from those who have been affected and those who continue to fight for accountability.
Murat Kurnaz: abducted and tortured
Hélène Flautre: demanding accountability
WHICH COUNTRIES WERE INVOLVED?
This map shows information available to Amnesty International linking European governments to the US-led rendition and secret detention programmes between 2001 and 2006, including data on aircrafts suspected of involvement in renditions (suspect flights or aircrafts).
Click on the countries to find out more
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The European Parliament recently voted to endorse a new report on accountability for EU countries’ involvement in the CIA-led rendition and secret detentions programmes. This is an important development in our ongoing work to insist European governments hold full and effective investigations into their collaboration with the CIA in setting up these sites, where suspects were tortured and otherwise ill-treated.The vote was passed with a huge majority and Amnesty International kept up the pressure on European governments in the run-up to the vote by delivering a petition with thousands of signatures to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament.
Amnesty International will continue to campaign for accountability. The adoption of the new report now gives us an opportunity to take our campaign to the national level and put additional pressure to national authorities to finally carry out effective accountability processes and provide redress to victims.
More action to follow soon!
Rendition victim and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Murat Kurnaz and AI's Nicolas Beger with 'Unlock the Truth' petitions to be delivered to the President of the European Parliament. Brussels, 6 September 2012
Find out more about renditions and secret detentions.
These links will take you to amnesty.org. Here you can find the most recent information released by Amnesty International on this subject matter. Read more about our global campaign Security and Human Rights.
- News
- Historic ruling on Europe’s role in CIA renditions (13 December 2012)
- EU Parliament raises pressure for CIA flights, torture, prisons probe (11 September, 2012)
- Italy/USA: Supreme Court orders re-trial of former high-levelintelligence officials and upholds all convictions in Abu Omarkidnapping case (21 September 2012)