Europeans accused over CIA rendition data
by Daniel Mason
19 December 2011
Almost two-thirds of countries asked by human rights groups about their involvement in extraordinary rendition flights have failed to comply with freedom of information requests – with European nations in particular accused of withholding evidence of the controversial CIA programme.
Legal action charity Reprieve and open government pressure group Access Info Europe made a total of 67 requests for flight data relating to the years 2002 through to 2006. They contacted 28 countries, plus the international air traffic agency Eurocontrol, but only seven released the information. Five said they no longer held the data, 13 did not reply, and three countries along with Eurocontrol denied access.
For the last year, the two organisations have been building an overview of the aircraft and flight routes used by United States intelligence to transport captured terror suspects. The groups said they had identified 54 American-registered aircraft involved in rendition. It has previously been reported, but unacknowledged by the CIA, that it ran prisons in Poland, Lithuania and Romania, as well as Thailand and Afghanistan – with human rights advocates accusing the US of using the programme to move suspects to countries where torture was allowed.
In a report published today entitled Rendition on Record, Reprieve and Access Info Europe called on countries to take "urgent steps" to publish all the relevant information that they hold, in a reusable open data format. Lydia Medland, a researcher and campaigner at Access Info Europe, said the study showed "there are no legitimate reasons why data about flights cannot be released. It is imperative that the data be made public before it is destroyed, in order to permit full accountability for these violations of human rights."
Portugal, Sweden, Canada and Eurocontrol refused to reveal the information, with the latter two claiming that transparency rules did not apply to the non-public bodies that held it. The United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia and Slovenia said they no longer had the data. Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Latvia and Romania failed to respond, along with Albania, Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Georgia, Iceland, Russia and Turkey.
The reticence of European countries was in contrast with the United States, which handed over 27,128 flight records. However, not all European countries remained silent: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania and Norway also released the requested information.
Reprieve investigator Crofton Black said: "It's a shocking indictment of European complacency that, while the US will gladly release over 27,000 records, Europe's air traffic manager Eurocontrol won't even release one. It's equally unacceptable that countries such as Austria, France, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Spain simply ignore requests for data relating to serious rights abuses."
Legal action charity Reprieve and open government pressure group Access Info Europe made a total of 67 requests for flight data relating to the years 2002 through to 2006. They contacted 28 countries, plus the international air traffic agency Eurocontrol, but only seven released the information. Five said they no longer held the data, 13 did not reply, and three countries along with Eurocontrol denied access.
For the last year, the two organisations have been building an overview of the aircraft and flight routes used by United States intelligence to transport captured terror suspects. The groups said they had identified 54 American-registered aircraft involved in rendition. It has previously been reported, but unacknowledged by the CIA, that it ran prisons in Poland, Lithuania and Romania, as well as Thailand and Afghanistan – with human rights advocates accusing the US of using the programme to move suspects to countries where torture was allowed.
In a report published today entitled Rendition on Record, Reprieve and Access Info Europe called on countries to take "urgent steps" to publish all the relevant information that they hold, in a reusable open data format. Lydia Medland, a researcher and campaigner at Access Info Europe, said the study showed "there are no legitimate reasons why data about flights cannot be released. It is imperative that the data be made public before it is destroyed, in order to permit full accountability for these violations of human rights."
Portugal, Sweden, Canada and Eurocontrol refused to reveal the information, with the latter two claiming that transparency rules did not apply to the non-public bodies that held it. The United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia and Slovenia said they no longer had the data. Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Latvia and Romania failed to respond, along with Albania, Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Georgia, Iceland, Russia and Turkey.
The reticence of European countries was in contrast with the United States, which handed over 27,128 flight records. However, not all European countries remained silent: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania and Norway also released the requested information.
Reprieve investigator Crofton Black said: "It's a shocking indictment of European complacency that, while the US will gladly release over 27,000 records, Europe's air traffic manager Eurocontrol won't even release one. It's equally unacceptable that countries such as Austria, France, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Spain simply ignore requests for data relating to serious rights abuses."
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