A4-0368/96

Resolution on combating terrorism in the European Union

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Articles 3, 5, 6 and 8,

- having regard to the European Convention on Extradition of 13 September 1957, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959 and the European Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism of 27 January 1977,

- having regard to its resolution of 18 April 1985 on measures to combat terrorism ((OJ C 122, 20.5.1985, p. 109.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 11 July 1985 on air traffic safety and international terrorism ((OJ C 229, 9.9.1985, p. 89.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 11 September 1986 on terrorism ((OJ C 255, 13.10.1986, p. 135.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 10 March 1988 on terrorist attacks on civil aviation ((OJ C 94, 11.4.1988, p. 117.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 26 May 1989 on problems relating to combating terrorism ((OJ C 158, 26.6.1989, p. 394.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 June 1991 on murders committed by terrorists in the Community ((OJ C 183, 15.7.1991, p. 278.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 10 March 1994 on terrorism and its effects on security in the Community ((OJ C 91, 28.3.1994, p. 236.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 4 July 1996 on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the illicit traffic in radioactive substances and nuclear materials ((OJ C 211, 22.7.1996, p. 15.)),

- having regard to the public hearing on combating terrorism held by the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs on 21 February 1996,

- having regard to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union, particularly Article K.1(7) and (9) and Article K.3(2),

- having regard to Article 2(1) and (2) of the Convention based on Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union on the establishment of a European Police Office (Europol Convention) ((OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 1.)),

- having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3381/94 of 19 December 1994 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods ((OJ L 367, 31.12.1994, p. 1, amended by Regulation (EC) No 837/95, OJ L 90, 21.4.1995, p. 1.)) and Council Decision 94/942/CFSP of 19 December 1994 on the joint action adopted by the Council on the basis of Article J.3 of the Treaty on European Union concerning the control of exports of dual-use goods ((OJ L 367, 31.12.1994, p. 8. Decision amended by Decision 95/127/CFSP (OJL90, 21.4.1995, p. 2), Decision 95/128/CFSP (OJ L 90, 21.4.1995, p.3), Decision 96/173/CFSP (OJ L 52, 1.3.1996, p. 1) and Decision 96/423/CFSP (OJ L 176, 13.7.1996, p. 1).)),

- having regard to the Council Act of 10 March 1995 drawing up the Convention on simplified extradition procedure between the Member States of the European Union ((OJ C 78, 30.3.1995, p. 1.)),

- having regard to the Council Act of 27 September 1996 elaborating the Convention on extradition between the Member States of the European Union ((OJ C 313, 23.10.1996, p. 11.)),

- having regard to the declaration on terrorism issued by the Ministers of Home Affairs and Justice at the informal Council on 14 October 1995,

- having regard to the 25 measures against terrorism recommended by the Conference of the Seven Leading Industrialized Nations (G-7) and Russia on 30 July 1996 in Paris,

- having regard to the conclusions of the European Council in Dublin on 13 and 14 December 1996 on the fight against terrorism,

- having regard to Petition No 447/95 by Mr Jim Swire (British), on behalf of UK Families Flight 103, bearing 10 250 signatures, on the destruction of PAN-AM flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988,

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs (A4-0368/96),

A. whereas in the European Union terrorism should be regarded as a crime intended to alter political, economic and social structures in states where the rule of law prevails by means of the threat or use of force and is thus distinct from resistance campaigns in third countries, the latter being directed against state structures which are themselves of a terrorist character,

B. whereas acts of terrorism violate numerous fundamental rights of the individual, particularly the right to life, the right to physical integrity and the right to personal freedom, and whereas moreover they are liable to threaten peace in a given region and democratic institutions and their functioning and to undermine aspects of the rule of law and the fundamental principles on which the constitutional traditions and legislation of western democracies are based,

C. whereas for the purposes of this resolution it is desirable to define as terrorism any act committed by individuals or groups, involving the use or threat of violence, against a country, its institutions or people in general or specific individuals, which is intended to create a state of terror among official agencies, certain individuals or groups in society or the general public, the motives lying in separatism, extremist ideology, religious fanaticism or subjective irrational factors,

D. whereas, with the continuing and rapid development of information technologies, electronic storage, retrieval, analysis and transmission of information capabilities, new forms of terrorist activity are constantly emerging which - as for example in the case of 'computer terrorism' - can consist in destroying or damaging database or telecommunications systems such as those used by government, civilians, police, banks, business, transport and the scientific, military or private sectors or operating them by means of techniques and methods which may be defined as computer crime, such as hacking or introducing computer viruses or Trojan horses with the aim of destabilizing a state or bringing pressure to bear on public agencies,

E. whereas some Member States of the European Union are currently confronted by acts of terrorism - in many cases organized and supported across borders - and whereas the other Member States have no guarantee that such acts will not occur in their territory,

F. whereas the European Union therefore has a duty to adopt a series of consistent measures to combat terrorism in the European Union going beyond ad hoc proposals, which, in addition to improving the clear-up rate and prosecution, should do more to prevent terrorism,

G. whereas, in the interests of the efficiency of measures to combat terrorism, the competence of Europol should without delay be extended, as provided for by Article 2 of the Europol Convention, to crimes committed or likely to be committed in the course of terrorist activities against life, limb, personal freedom or property, taking particular account of the European Parliament's resolution of 14 March 1996 on Europol ((OJ C 96, 1.4.1996, p. 288.)),

H. whereas within the European Union - because of the democratic and constitutional structure of decision-making in its Member States - acts of terrorism cannot remotely be justified by any ideology or other motives, so that, even where they are clearly politically motivated, they must be classified as purely criminal acts and their perpetrators prosecuted in compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights as interpreted by the Strasbourg human rights courts,

I. whereas therefore - even in the event of maximum provocation by attacks which display disregard or contempt for human life - measures against terrorism should never be based on emergency legislation or emergency procedures, as there is a danger that such exceptional counter-strategies may attribute major importance to acts of terrorism - entirely in accordance with the objectives of terrorists - and hence disproportionately enhance their value,

J. whereas - contrary to earlier fears - the dismantling of controls at the internal borders has not increased the danger of acts of terrorism, because, as all the experts heard by the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs on 21 February 1996 agreed, the traditional internal border controls virtually never resulted in the arrest of members of terrorist groups,

K. whereas some acts of terrorism are planned and carried out by internationally organized groups, which are either explicitly or tacitly tolerated by many states and in some cases even receive financial or other support from them,

L. whereas effective diplomatic, political and economic sanctions and deterrent measures should be adopted against states which support terrorist acts or groups either openly or covertly,

General aspects

1. Reiterates firmly its rejection and condemnation of all acts of terrorism, the principal effect of which is to cause indescribable suffering to the victims and those around them by destroying their personal hopes and expectations and the material basis of their livelihood, injuring and maiming them, inflicting psychological torture and causing death;

2. Rejects in general all use or threats of force by individuals or groups as a means of pursuing separatist or ideological objectives or motivated by religious fanaticism or irrational and incomprehensible factors within the European Union as a serious violation of the fundamental freedoms of its citizens which nothing can justify;

3. Calls on the media, when reporting on acts of terrorism, to be aware of their responsibility to society and of attempts to exploit them for the objectives of the culprits; with this in mind, calls on media self- regulation bodies to work out professional ethical principles and adopt effective measures to ensure adherence to them;

4. Expresses its sincere condolences to the next of kin of those who have been killed by acts of terrorism, and its deepest sympathy with people injured by such acts and their families;

5. Observes that effective material assistance and psychological counselling for the victims of acts of terrorism and their families are essential;

Preventive measures

6. Calls on the Member States to adopt standard measures to investigate and avert acts of terrorism, including:

- airport surveillance and airline security;

- better systems for detecting explosives and dangerous substances in hand luggage, hold luggage and general cargo as well as further development of methods of detecting and tracing other hazardous substances such as poisons, biological agents and man-made chemical compounds;

- efficient, coordinated computer systems to facilitate the surveillance and detection of individuals wanted by the authorities on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization in the European Union;

- protection of organizations likely to be the target of terrorist attacks;

- prevention of the misuse of data and telecommunications networks for terrorist purposes (e.g. placing of bomb-making instructions on the Internet);

- protection of data and telecommunications networks from sabotage by terrorist organizations;

- monitoring of the production, storage, trade, transport, import and export of arms, explosives and weapons intended or suitable for killing, injuring or disabling a large number of people, destroying large numbers of animals or plants or destroying materials in large quantities, in which connection parliamentary control increases the transparency of the systems and thus prevents their misuse;

- ensuring that the system for monitoring goods which can serve both civil and military purposes (as referred to in Council Regulation (EC) No. 3381/94 of 19 December 1994 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods and the joint action pertaining to it, as most recently amended at any time) operates more effectively;

- prohibiting the development, manufacture, storage, trade, transport, import and export of biological and chemical weapons and radioactive substances;

- the strictest possible compliance with the international obligations arising from the Non-Proliferation Treaty;

7. Recommends that the Member States improve the training and further training of explosives and bomb disposal experts and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons experts;

8. Considers it necessary to promote democratic dialogue in order to help find political solutions to political, ethnic/national, social and ecological conflicts and to ensure that these conflicts are not used to excuse acts of terrorism and cannot meet with a certain condonation on the part of sections of the public;

9. Recommends that the Member States pursue a deliberate policy of integration, to combat social, economic and cultural exclusion, as a means of preventing terrorism;

10. Calls on the Member States to adopt effective measures to prevent the emergence or persistence of circles of active terrorist sympathizers; these include in particular prevention of active participation in acts of terrorism, preventing intellectual, logistic and material - particularly financial - assistance with acts of terrorism and prohibiting any action which facilitates terrorism or safeguards terrorists against prosecution or the execution of sentences (e.g. hiding them from the investigating authorities, providing hide-outs, etc.);

11. Calls on the Commission, Council and Member States to adopt effective diplomatic, political and economic sanctions and deterrent measures against states which, either openly or covertly, support acts of terrorism or terrorist groups;

Investigation and prosecution

12. Calls on the Member States to ratify the Europol Convention as soon as possible and on the Council to adopt a decision as provided for by Article 2(2) of the Europol Convention to vest in Europol the competence to prevent and combat terrorism as soon as possible, and at all events before the expiry of the period referred to in that paragraph ('within two years at the latest following the entry into force of this Convention') and adopt appropriate measures to improve the effectiveness of the competent authorities of the Member States and their cooperation in combating terrorism, in which connection the demands made by Parliament in its aforementioned resolution of 14 March 1996 on Europol must be taken into account;

13. Calls on the Commission, Council and Member States to put before parliaments provisions laying down technical conditions which can significantly ease investigations into acts of terrorism; these could include, on condition that the fundamental rights of persons who are uninvolved are strictly respected, and subject to parliamentary and judicial control:

- optical and acoustic surveillance of persons, in which connection in particular manufacturers of mobile telephones must be required to render surveillance technically possible,

- computer-aided scanning of multiple databases,

- certain precautions to improve the identification of cars used in causing explosions,

- marking of explosives so that their origin can be determined after an explosion;

14. Calls on the Member States:

- to classify acts of terrorism as serious, extraditable crimes in their respective criminal laws,

- where an act of terrorism is committed, to prosecute everyone involved in its organization, preparation or commission;

- to define an apologia for terrorism, under their legislation, as a criminal offence;

- to cooperate actively within the framework of the new European Convention on Extradition, but with due regard for the responsibility of each Member State for the legal certainty enjoyed by its residents;

Police and judicial cooperation

15. Calls on the Member States:

- to step up police cooperation in combating terrorism, while strongly reinforcing democratic and judicial control and, in so doing, to adopt a course which guarantees maximum participation by the European Parliament,

- to make it possible to exchange information even if there is no specific link with criminal proceedings (e.g. on suspect persons and organizations, documents which may possibly be forged, weapons used or collected, technologies favoured, any new threats, etc.), in which connection the right of self-determination of citizens of the EU in respect of information absolutely must be guaranteed as called for in Parliament's aforementioned resolution of 14 March 1996 on Europol,

- to promote direct exchanges of opinions and experience between the officers of the individual Member States responsible for combating terrorism (e.g. by issuing a directory of departments responsible for combating terrorism, listing seminars and courses, including language courses, on offer throughout Europe),

- to encourage the departments responsible for public transport security to cooperate more (e.g. by exchanging information about air passengers and air freight);

16. Stresses the duty of all Member States to regard European and international agreements against terrorism not as solemn declarations of intent but to accord them the full force of binding legal texts which should provide a basis for consistent and coordinated action within the European Union;

17. Calls on the Member States to ratify without delay the Convention signed on 27 September 1996 on extradition between the Member States of the European Union;

18. Urges the Member States to implement rigorously the principle laid down in Article 2a of the Convention on extradition between the Member States of the European Union, signed on 27 September 1996, according to which not only perpetrators of terrorist acts but also accomplices to terrorism are liable to extradition, and to abolish the requirements of double indictment and exceptionality as conditions for judicial assistance and extradition;

19. Calls on the Council, in the longer term, to seek to harmonize throughout Europe criminal law on serious crime with a cross-border aspect; in the meantime, calls for agreements to be drafted to improve judicial cooperation in response to acts of terrorism, which should take the following points into account:

- facilitating, rendering more flexible and expediting legal assistance by making it possible for the authorities responsible to communicate with one another direct,

- the establishment of central agencies to deal with requests for legal assistance in each Member State, to which - if required - public prosecutors and judges from other Member States, acting as liaison officers, could be posted,

- establishment of the principle that, when legal assistance is provided, evidence is to be gathered in the requested state in accordance with the provisions of the requesting state - in so far as this is compatible with the principles of the requested state - so that it has full evidential force in criminal proceedings in the requesting state,

- making it possible for a national of one Member State to be prosecuted there for serious offences committed in another;

20. Calls on the Council to adopt the necessary agreements and measures to prevent any national of a Member State accused of terrorism or collaboration with an armed group within the meaning of this resolution from obtaining political asylum or refugee status in another Member State;

21. Calls on the Member States, if at all possible, to avoid entering any reservation in respect of terrorism as provided for by Article 7(2) of the convention on extradition between the Member States of the European Union (extradition of a Member State's own nationals);

22. Calls on the Intergovernmental Conference, in connection with the expected reform of Title VI, to take account of the following points:

- asylum policy may only apply to nationals of third countries;

- there must be a specific provision which includes in the Treaty effective principles for close cooperation in the field of judicial assistance, as a crucial component in the fight against terrorism and other forms of organized crime;

23. Calls on the Intergovernmental Conference to insert two new articles K.1a and K.1b in the EU Treaty, as proposed by the Irish Presidency in its general outline for a draft revision of the treaties (pages 31, 32 and 33 of Doc CONF 2500/96 CAB);

24. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.