Human rights task force demanded

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini says human rights abuses continue daily

ROME, Italy - A rapid response unit should be formed to combat human rights violations, European countries were told on Friday.

Walter Schwimmer, Secretary general of the Council of Europe, told delegates from 40 countries gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, that European countries had to act when rights continued to be violated on a massive scale.

"The time has come to create and fund a rapid response capacity ... in the form of a human rights task force and an intervention fund which can play a vital role in helping the states concerned restore a minimum level of respect for human rights," Schwimmer said.

He said he hoped the meeting would be used to open talks on banning the death penalty in wartime as well as peacetime. The Council of Europe outlawed the death penalty in peacetime in 1983.

The United States and Japan, two countries which continue to have capital punishment, were due to send delegates to the convention although neither is a member.

Opening the two-day conference in Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini praised the achievements of the convention over five decades while lamenting the fact that human rights are still abused daily.

''The way ahead is long. Every day we hear of grave and repeated human rights violations,'' he said.

''In too many countries the dignity of too many individuals continues to be stamped upon and despoiled, too often amid general indifference," Dini said.

The convention was signed by the Council of Europe to protect issues ranging from freedom of thought to the right to a fair trial.

It covers 41 countries from Iceland to Cyprus, protecting the rights of more than 800 million people.

At the end of the meeting members will be invited to sign a protocol against discrimination at a ceremony on Rome's Capitoline Hill.

The final draft is expected to reject discrimination on the basis of gender and religion but probably not sexual orientation, age or disability after months of wrangling among members over the wording.

Schwimmer said the Council expected a majority of countries to sign the protocol on Saturday and hoped others would follow.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Council of Europe
European Court of Human Rights

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