H UMA N R I G H TS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34 th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 H U M A N www.hrw.org W A T C H “No Questions Asked” Intelligence Cooperation with Countries that Torture Torture is prohibited under international law. No exceptions are allowed. Yet the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom are engaged in ongoing cooperation with foreign intelligence services in countries that routinely use torture. These European governments use foreign torture information for intelligence and policing purposes. And weak rules on the use of such material as evidence mean that it can end up as part of legal proceedings. Intelligence cooperation is important to countering terrorism. But regular receipt of, and reliance on, foreign torture information implicitly validates the use of unlawful methods to acquire information. The practice of using such information and public statements affirming the legitimacy of doing so risks creating a market for torture intelligence. It violates the positive obligation under international law to prevent and punish torture and can amount to complicity in such abuse. And using torture as evidence is a clear breach of the global torture ban. France, Germany and the UK can engage in necessary intelligence cooperation without undermining the global torture ban. To do so, they must make genuine inquiries with sending countries to determine whether torture was used to obtain it and what steps the authorities have taken to hold to account those responsible for that abuse. Cooperation should be suspended in particular cases where there are grounds to believe torture or ill-treatment were used to obtain shared information. There is also a need for tighter parliamentary oversight of intelligence cooperation, and stronger rules to prevent torture material from entering the judicial process. Europe has been forced to confront its complicity in US counterterrorism abuses, including hosting secret detention sites and facilitating extraordinary renditions. It is time for France, Germany and the UK to take responsibility for their role in overseas abuse, and to ensure that their intelligence cooperation does not perpetuate it. R I G H T S