• Will promote and enhance tolerance, co-existence and harmonious relations between ethnic, religious, linguistic and other groups as well as constructive co-operation among participating States in this regard. • Will provide early warning of and appropriate responses to violence, intolerance, extremism and discrimination against these groups and, at the same time, promote their respect for the rule of law, democratic values and individual freedoms. • Will work to ensure that persons belonging to national minorities have the right freely to express, preserve and develop their ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity.61 Subsequent to adopting this obligation, further and more-detailed human rights commitments have been undertaken.62 Council of Europe As the majority of OSCE participating States are also members of the Council of Europe, for the purpose of this manual, the Council of Europe legal mechanisms (both hard and soft law) are especially relevant. These include: • The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (1977) and Protocol thereto (2003);63 • The European Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (2005);64 • Conventions relating to cyber crime and money laundering.65 The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has also produced a set of Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism (2002). These are essential reading, and will be relied upon throughout this manual. The guidelines seek to reconcile legitimate national security concerns with the protection of fundamental freedoms in the context of the European system. They also stress the duty on states to protect human rights. The seventeen guidelines include the following: • • • • • • prohibition on arbitrariness and discrimination; prohibition on torture; regulation of surveillance; right to due process; prohibition on the death penalty; provision for surveillance of detainee’s communications with legal representatives. Each guideline, which places each right in the counter-terrorism context, is supported by law, case law and principle from international human rights institutions, in particular the European Court of Human Rights. These guidelines were supplemented in 2005 in relation to the rights of victims of terrorist acts.66 61 Op. cit., note 23, Bucharest Plan of Action. 62 Op. cit., note 7, 2002 Porto Charter. 63 In its original form it was designed to facilitate prosecution or extradition between contracting parties and to eliminate the availability of political offence exceptions from certain offences. 64 The Treaty (CETS 196) was opened for signatures in Warsaw on 16 May 2005 and entered into force on 1 June 2007. 65 These are: The Convention on Cybercrime (CETS 185 and its Protocol), the Conventions on Corruption (CETS 173 and CETS 174) and the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS 198, not yet entered into force). 66 See Chapter 2 above. 40 Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights