European Union and US eye human rights in terrorism prevention

Human rights and respect for Islam and religious differences should play a vital role in efforts to combat terrorism, the European Union (EU) and the United States said in a joint declaration on Thursday.

The transatlantic allies also pledged to bolster cooperation in diplomacy, law enforcement, judicial assistance, exchange of information and efforts to control suspect cash flows.

The policy was outlined days after US president Barack Obama unveiled a new national security doctrine that distanced the United States from the Bush-era emphasis on going it alone and underscored his efforts to rebuild ties with Europe.

George W Bush's administration had faced widespread criticism over its treatment of prisoners from its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including its policy of secretly sending detainees to other countries with suspect human rights records for interrogation. Some European countries have been accused of colluding in the practice.

But Obama, who took office in January 2009, has made improving ties with the Muslim world a priority.

"Our positions are moving closer together," Spanish interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said after meeting his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

"It is important that Muslim countries know we respect their values but terrorists know we have to counter their activities," he said.

The ministers signed the declaration on counter-terrorism during the meeting in Luxembourg.

Transatlantic cooperation on combating terrorism has improved since Obama took office and sought a more unified approach to shared problems facing the United States and Europe.

EU governments have pledged to help out in his efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, which had been at centre of accusations of rights abuses by the Bush administration, by accepting inmates for relocation.

The EU's executive Commission is also making efforts to improve cooperation to exchange of personal data with US terror investigators.

But issues related to civil liberties have strained efforts so far.

The EU has failed to strike a deal with Washington on sharing bank transfer data of European citizens, because of concerns over privacy protection. A new agreement that takes into account European objections is under negotiation and the EU negotiator said it could be signed this month.

"We've almost concluded negotiations and we hope to have a document ready at the beginning of next week," EU interior affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in Luxembourg.

In a separate report also issued on Thursday, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, said al-Qaeda remained "the greatest threat to the (European) Union".

"Even though the number of plots and arrests has decreased in the last year that does not mean that there are not several other factors indicating a continuing high risk of terrorist attacks in Europe," he said.

He singled out Europe's transport network as particularly under threat. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, more than 200 people died in attacks on trains in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005.

The EU, which is home to more than 10 million Muslims, should also improve its diplomacy with the Arab world, he said.