To Council of Europe Bodies: To the Committee of Ministers • Decline to adopt the new European Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism unless and until Article 21 (“Discrimination Clause”) is revised in line with the wording contained in draft Article 18bis, point 2 in Opinion No.255 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the draft Convention (“Grounds for refusing extradition or mutual legal assistance”): “States Parties shall refuse to comply with requests for extradition made in relation to the offences set forth in Articles 4-7 where there are substantial grounds for believing that complying with the request would result in the person concerned facing a real risk of: (…) c. being subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” To the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) • Deplore the failure of the CODEXTER experts group, in drafting the European Convention on Prevention of Terrorism, to follow the recommendation of the PACE in its opinion No.255 (2005) on the draft Convention, affirming the absolute nonrefoulement obligation in respect of extradition requests of persons facing a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. • Task the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to undertake a study into all cases to date where Council of Europe member states have sought or have been requested to provide diplomatic assurances against torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in extradition, return, expulsion, or other transfer cases. To the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture • Reaffirm the absolute nature of the nonrefoulement obligation in the course of confidential discussions with governments. Emphasize that diplomatic assurances in relation to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment are inherently unreliable and that their use by states undermines the nonrefoulement obligation enshrined in article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. • Collect information in the course of country visits on the situation of persons threatened with return based on diplomatic assurances against torture and illtreatment and on the situation of persons who have been returned to the country of 89 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D)