Germany The protection of human rights in the fight against terrorism will continue to have our special attention. Precisely because we unreservedly condemn terrorism, we must ensure that we respect human rights and principles of due process in our efforts to combat it. In this context, eradicating torture remains a key concern. —Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then German Federal Foreign Minister, June 200688 To calmly lean back...and to say ‘From among the 190 member states of the United Nations we exclude [counterterrorism cooperation with] 150 because they do not dispose of a system in accordance with the rule of law in accordance with ours, and work with the remaining 40’...would not have been quite appropriate. —Frank-Walter Steinmeier, March 13, 200889 Germany is a party to major human rights instruments imposing clear obligations with respect to the prevention, prosecution and eradication of torture.90 National law authorizes universal jurisdiction over torture.91 In its most recent human rights report, published in July 2008, the German Federal Foreign Office reaffirms the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and asserts that the government is “consistently and continually engaged in the fight against torture and ill-treatment.”92 The federal government supports anti-torture initiatives in a variety of countries around the world. Germany ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in December 2008 and created a Federal Office for the Prevention of Torture as the national prevention mechanism in November 2008. 88 Speech to the UN Human Rights Council, June 19, 2006, www.auswaertigesamt.de/diplo/en/Infoservice/Presse/Reden/2006/060619-MRR-konstSitzg.html (accessed September 9, 2009). 89 Steinmeier testimony to the Bundestag Committee of Inquiry into the Activities of the Federal Intelligence Service in Iraq, Final Recommendations and Report of the First Committee of Inquiry under Article 44 of the Basic Law (BND Inquiry), p. 401. . 90 ICCPR, ratified by Germany December 17, 1973; Convention against Torture, ratified by Germany November 1, 1990; ECHR, ratified by Germany December 5, 1952. 91 Paragraph 6(9) of the German Criminal Code. 92 Achter Bericht der Bundesregierung über ihre Menschenrechtspolitik in den auswärtigen Beziehungen und in anderen Politikbereichen, July 2008, http:www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/Infoservice/Broschueren/MRB8.pdf (accessed November 11, 2009), p. 45. “No Questions Asked” 34