Prominent Legal Experts Confirm Israel’s Record of Torture Makes EU-Funding of “LAW TRAIN” Illegal

– POSTED ON 26 JUIN 2017POSTED IN: EUROPEAN UNION, NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 26th 2017


June 26th 2017 – To coincide with the International Day Against Torture, twenty-five prominent legal experts released a document demonstrating that the European Union-funded project LAW TRAIN breaches EU regulations and international law concerning human rights violations, and therefore must be stopped.

LAW TRAIN brings together the Israeli Police, the Israeli Ministry for Public Security (IMPS) and European police forces, universities and private companies with the aim of “harmonizing and sharing interrogation techniques between the countries”. The EU is funding this project with over 5 million euros, as part of its Horizon2020 programme for research and innovation.

In their expert opinion, the legal scholars argue that the EU cannot fund the Israeli Ministry for Public Security, which oversees the Israeli police as well the Israeli Prison Service and the secret service, without violating its own regulations. They document how the IMPS is responsible for or complicit in torture, other crimes against humanity and war crimes, and therefore guilty of grave professional misconduct as defined by the European Union’s Financial Regulations.

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