Doc. 11302 Report 7.3. Proposal by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition (APPG) to improve the United Kingdom’s mechanisms dealing with rendition requests 335. While the APPG did not achieve any progress regarding the specific cases of United Kingdom residents abducted in Gambia and finally taken to Guantánamo Bay,285its chair, Mr Andrew Tyrie, has recently submitted a proposal to the United Kingdom Government to improve the United Kingdom’s mechanisms in this area, aimed at improving the protection of detainees transported through the United Kingdom, increasing transparency and defining responsibilities more clearly.286The APPG also expressed its support for the proposals made by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe following the opening of a procedure under Article 52 of the ECHR, and for the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, including the resolution and recommendation proposed with the report of June 2006. There is no possible doubt in group members’ minds that “extraordinary renditions” have indeed taken place. 336. The House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, however, has yet to publish its report on extraordinary renditions.287 8. Secret detentions and renditions: the diminishing effect on respect for human rights worldwide 8.1. Collateral damage of the war on terror: diminishing respect for human rights 337. The policy pursued by the current United States administration has undeniably been a contributory factor in tarnishing the image of the United States, a country regarded as a model of democracy and respect for individual freedoms. The huge wave of sympathy for the American people following the tragic events of 11 September 2001 rapidly gave way to incomprehension, irritation, and even overt hostility. The commission of unlawful acts – abductions, the exporting of torture to other countries even though they are regarded as “rogue states”, the setting up of detention centres beyond any judicial supervision – has severely affected the moral authority of the United States. Worse still, the world’s greatest power is becoming a negative role model for other countries, which feel that they may legitimately follow the same path and flout human rights. The systematic exporting of such activities outside American territory also constitutes a form of contempt for the rest of the world, and the reservation of such methods exclusively for non-Americans is an expression of an “apartheid” mentality in the legal sphere. This feeling is further reinforced by the United States administration’s systematic refusal to place itself under the jurisdiction of an international court, although it is always ready to impose such jurisdiction on others.288This attitude merely fuels deplorable and damaging anti-Americanism, for it creates a movement of sympathy for Islamic fundamentalism, thereby giving a feeling of legitimacy to the criminal groups which resort to terror. The collateral damage caused by the “war on terror” being waged by the current United States administration is very serious. More serious, and more intolerable, however, is the attitude taken by many European governments, which have allowed – when they have not directly cooperated in – a whole series of unlawful acts on their territory, acts which the United States administration itself refused to commit in its own country. 8.2. Continued secret detentions in the Chechen Republic and failure to co-operate with the CPT: unacceptable collateral damage to the values of the Council of Europe 8.2.1. CPT third public statement and detentions in the village of Tsentoroy 338. The June 2006 report referred to serious allegations about enforced disappearances, and about the existence of secret detention centres and the systematic use of torture in Chechnya. Subsequently the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has issued new concrete conclusions about this region, in the third public declaration published recently. 339. Under Article 10.2 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the committee may make, by a two-thirds majority, a public declaration after a party to the convention “fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in the light of the committee’s recommendations.” According to the statement, “the CPT remains deeply concerned” by the fact that “[r]esort 285. See Marty report 2006, supra note 6, p. 46. 286. Letter of 18 May 2007 (on file). 287. The report must first be addressed to the prime minister, who shall decide about what can be made public. 288. It should not be forgotten that the United States is still refusing to ratify the treaty setting up the International Criminal Court; as at 1 January 2007, 104 states had acceded to the Rome Statute governing the ICC. 64