Brussels, 18/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and several European home affairs ministers, including Bernard Cazeneuve of France and Theresa May of the UK, were due to take part in the international summit on terrorism and extremism in Washington on Wednesday 18 February. The conference was organised by US President Barack Obama in the wake of the Paris attacks of 7 and 9 January.
The summit, coming as it does only a few days after new attacks in Copenhagen and the beheading by Islamic State of Egyptian Coptic Christians who had gone to Libya to seek work, will discuss the various terrorist threats around the world, not just those linked to radical Islam. Cooperation with the internet giants is also on the agenda, at a time when a number of controversies pit the US governmental authorities against the likes of Facebook and Google. The search engines and social media oppose calls to allow the authorities to circumvent provisions for the encryption of messages put in place to protect the privacy of internet users. This is a sensitive issue in the EU, too, although the member states have, for the moment, decided not to seek the power to get round encryption. An action plan is expected to be adopted in Washington and a further meeting of the same type is planned before the meeting of the UN General Assembly in September, the BBC reports.
European PNR. Terrorism was discussed by the French home affairs minister and European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans on Tuesday 17 February. The two reiterated their commitment to having a European PNR, the register of European air passengers, in place by the end of the year as a way of preventing terrorist attacks.
Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Niels Muiznieks warned of the effect of anti-terrorist measures on individual liberties. “The Paris terrorist attacks have given rise to a wide-ranging debate on tackling terrorism, in France and in Europe. Some suggestions, for example, allowing security services unhindered access to digital communications and banning encryption, show that we have failed to learn the lessons of the Snowden affair on the dangers of mass surveillance for human rights, and in particular the right to privacy”, he writes. He says that proposals to require internet service providers to remove content that is an incitement to commit acts of terrorism, without any judicial review, are “highly problematic”.
What kinds of reform should be put in place in European penal institutions to prevent them from becoming breeding grounds for radicalism, Muiznieks wonders. In his view, it is necessary to draw the lessons from the so-called “war on terror” over the last 15 years in the interest of protecting human rights. “Taking away human rights in tackling terrorism has been a serious error and an ineffective measure that has helped the terrorists' cause”. He calls therefore, for “care in the adoption of new anti-terrorism legislation which must be subject to human rights' criteria. I call for the democratic oversight of security services, which is sadly inadequate in many European countries, to be strengthened” (our translation throughout). (Solenn Paulic)