This report of the Eminent Jurists Panel, based on one of the most comprehensive surveys on counter-terrorism and human rights to date, illustrates the extent to which the responses to the events of 11 September 2001 have changed the legal landscape in countries around the world.
Terrorism sows terror, and many States have fallen into a trap set by the terrorists. Ignoring lessons from the past, they have allowed themselves to be rushed into hasty responses, introducing an array of measures which undermine cherished values as well as the international legal framework carefully developed since the Second World War. These measures have resulted in human rights violations, including torture, enforced disappearances, secret and arbitrary detentions, and unfair trials. There has been little accountability for these abuses or justice for their victims.
The Panel addresses the consequences of pursuing counter-terrorism within a war paradigm, the increasing importance of intelligence, the use of preventive mechanisms and the role of the criminal justice system in counter-terrorism. Seven years after 9/11, and sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is time for the international community to re-group, take remedial action, and reassert core values and principles of international law. Those values and principles were intended to withstand crises, and they provide a robust and effective framework from within which to tackle terrorism. It is clear that the threat from terrorism is likely to be a long-term one, and solid long-term responses are now needed.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Another View of the War on Terror
The International Commission of Jurists, which is by no means some half-baked, self-anointed protector of their own definition of freedom, feel that the war on terrorism has not been good for human rights. They have been working on their report for over three years and have held public hearings and private meetings all over the world. Here's how the report begins (emphasis mine):
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2 comments:
It's taken them long enough to reach a conclusion most sane individuals came to a long time ago.
Speaking as one who came from a nation that suffered terrorist acts for over twenty-five years (mainly IRA) it was obvious long before 9/11 that a war paradigm was ridiculous, and no way to tackle the problem - which had been simmering away against the US for decades.
I wonder how many more years it will take them to reach the other obvious conclusion: that Bush and his cronies used 9/11 as a springboard for their own nefarious warmongering activities in Iraq, and, if things had gone according to plan, Iran.
Terror, Terrorism, Freedom Fighter and on and on it goes.
The fundamental problem we face today is that the Israelis were extraordinarily resilient and successful with their fight against the preeminent power of the time Great Britain in the Near east, in bringing Israel into nationhood.
Their actions proved beyond a doubt that David can beat Goliath. There actions whether right or wrong, set the stage for everyone and anybody that wanted to overthrow established power bases. The Irgun, Hagganah and Stern gangs wrote the book for future wannabees. Ask the British they were shown the door.
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