Recommendations

A diverse range of international, national, and multilateral actors have critical roles to play in addressing the impact of regional organizations such as the SCO on the international counter-terrorism framework, and in promoting a human rights pillar as the key to effective and sustainable approaches. To contribute to the international progress underway towards developing a more coherent, effective, and sustainable approach to counter-terrorism and promoting the key pillar of human rights, Human Rights in China respectfully makes the following recommendations:

To UN bodies, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, and human rights treaty bodies, relevant procedures, and other mechanisms:

• The Security Council and its subsidiary counter-terrorism bodies should encourage and review the progress of regional counter-terrorism frameworks such as the SCO in implementing the structural reforms and protections for human rights that UN counter-terrorism bodies have themselves incorporated. Such protections include integration of independent oversight mechanisms and human rights offices, and safeguards for terrorist listing, including regular review for accuracy of terrorist lists.
• Reporting to the Security Council and counter-terrorism bodies as required by Security Council Resolution 1373 should be augmented to include:
  • updates concerning SCO member states’ implementation of the recommendations made by UN human rights treaty bodies (including the Committee against Torture , Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Human Rights Committee), and include responses to concerns and inquiries made by human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (the “Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism”); updates should also include information on progress made on the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review recommendations accepted by the reporting state; and
  • documentation of efforts to promote compliance with the best practices advanced by the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, particularly those to enhance protection of privacy rights, including: safeguards for ensuring the accuracy of data collected; notice to individuals about data collected and opportunity for review; and appropriate limits on data-mining processes.
• UN bodies and officials, when citing the SCO’s Three Evils formulation in debates, should pay greater critical attention to the formulation’s potential for creating policy conflicts and negative impact on the international counter-terrorism framework.
• Development of expanded modalities of UN-SCO cooperation should ensure that any cooperation, including technical assistance and capacity building, will contribute to the promotion and protection of international human rights. Any modality should include human rights benchmarks, indicators, and transparent oversight mechanisms, as well as expert consultations on the intersection of technology, human rights, and counter-terrorism.
• UN human rights monitoring bodies and mechanisms should explore cross-mandate exchange and debates to encourage China and the other individual SCO member states to implement the relevant recommendations of treaty bodies, including recommendations regarding detention, due process (including the right to legal counsel), torture, and other abuses. UN bodies should closely monitor each individual member state’s observance of international human rights obligations, as the progress of the regional framework as a whole is unlikely to exceed the sum of its parts.
• UN human rights monitoring bodies and mechanisms, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, should examine the links between regional cooperation and trends of extraditions, forced returns, and disappearances, and pursue an investigation into and follow-up on urgent cases of concern, including:
  • the situation of the individuals of Uyghur ethnicity who were returned to China from Cambodia in December 2009;
  • Tibetan cases submitted to the Committee against Torture in 2008.
• The Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism should initiate dialogue with the SCO and request a mission to the SCO Secretariat headquarters in Beijing and RATS headquarters in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Such a mission should include meetings with SCO Secretary-General Muratbek Imanaliev and RATS Director Dzhenisbek Dzhumanbekov. While the current mandate holder’s term will expire in July 2011, there should be a transition foundation for such a mission by the next mandate holder. The communications to date between the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and the SCO member states also provide a good foundation for informal outreach and preliminary discussions to inform a possible country mission.

To the SCO and its member states:

• SCO member states should take steps to incorporate into the SCO framework the ten areas of best practices in countering terrorism recommended by the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism. ³ As a matter of priority, such steps should include a narrowing of the Three Evils-based normative structure, and reformulation of the SCO’s definition of terrorism.
• SCO member states should take steps to incorporate into the SCO framework and RATS operations the best practices for intelligence cooperation recommended by the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism,⁴ including the following reforms:
  • Intelligence sharing within RATS should have clear basis in national law, which should indicate the parameters for intelligence exchange, and such sharing should be further enumerated by written agreements between the parties on use of data and human rights compliance. (Practice 31.)
  • National law should outline the process for authorization of intelligence sharing, with executive approval of sharing with foreign entities. (Practice 32.)
  • Any intelligence sharing should be necessary, and preceded by assessment of the counterpart’s human rights and data protection record, and the legal safeguards/controls to which it is subject, as “intelligence received from a foreign entity may have been obtained in violation of international human rights law.” (Practice 33.)
  • Assessment of the impact on individuals of the sharing of data should also be undertaken – sharing should be explicitly prohibited when it could lead to violation of the individual’s rights. All outgoing data should be screened for accuracy and relevance to avoid dissemination of flawed information, and exchanged pursuant to written agreement. (Practice 33.) 
• The SCO should incorporate safeguards regarding extradition practices and measures to ensure due process, as well as mechanisms to increase the accountability and transparency of SCO cooperation, including clear legal guidelines regarding the process for review of asylum-seeker applications and member state extradition requests.  
• The SCO should adopt transparent human rights principles, and conduct regular, independent assessments of the implementation by member states and by the SCO itself of such principles. The principles should reflect the full range of individual member states’ international human rights obligations and account for the specific areas in which SCO member states cooperate. These human rights assessments should be included in the SCO member states’ required reporting to UN bodies, including the Security Council.
• SCO member states should adopt and report on concrete measures to address the root causes of domestic social conflict and instability, in order to:
  • promote better understanding, respect, and tolerance among ethnic groups;
  • address serious systemic inequalities, including access to healthcare, education, employment, and housing; and
  • promote respect for and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms – including freedom of expression, access to information, religious and cultural expression, and respect for different languages, cultures, and history – that enable effective identification and analysis of the problems and development of concrete solutions.
• The SCO should promote compliance by individual SCO member states with their human rights obligations concerning cases and issues documented and reported by treaty bodies and special procedures, as well as those raised in the course of reviews of reports by SCO member states to the Security Council.

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