29
Part 1
Similarly, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment affirmed that receiving or relying on
such intelligence undermines the goal of eliminating torture.39
Evaluating the circumstances in which intelligence provided by a foreign
agency has been obtained may present practical difficulties. Clear procedures
and guidelines to follow depending on the source of information should be
established to support law enforcement officers in this process. Where there is
any possibility that a piece of information may have been obtained under torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, it is the responsibility
of law enforcement officers to proceed with particular caution and to find out,
to the extent possible, whether this intelligence has been obtained in accordance with their domestic legislation, defined in line with international human
rights standards. It is also their responsibility to decide whether to use it.
The question that intelligence personnel need to ask themselves constantly
when assessing the relevance of any information they are processing is
whether knowing it and storing it on the police database will advance any
operation to prevent or detect terrorism-related offences.
1.1.3 Dissemination of Information and Intelligence
Having been recorded and evaluated, a decision will be taken as to how and to
whom the information and intelligence should be disseminated; this may be
decided before or after it has been subjected to research and detailed analysis.
Once again, operational and human rights criteria converge and demand that
adequate security arrangements are put in place to protect both the source and
the subject, as well as to ensure the integrity of any operation that is undertaken against the latter. A risk assessment, such as the 5x5x5 system described
in section 1.1.2 of this manual, should be carried out, and the information may
need to be sanitized and/or restrictions imposed on how it is used and whether
it can be disseminated further. This will be an especially important consideration when information and intelligence is passed on to another law enforcement agency, whether domestic or foreign, and more so if the external agency
is believed to engage in torture or ill-treatment of suspects.
39
United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Theo van Boven, Report to the Human Rights Council, 3 February
2011, A/HRC/16/52, para. 53, <http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/HRC/16/52>.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents