Combating Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism:Issues and Challenges in Human Rights Perspectives

Terrorism has a direct impact on basic human rights and the protection of individual right to life, liberty and physical security. The concern for the destructive impact of terrorism on human rights and security is discernible at United nations General Assembly, Security Council and the new Human Rights Council. The terrorist activities threatens the dignity and security of human beings everywhere.Terrorism endangers or takes innocent lives, creating an environment of fear that destroys individual freedom. It undermines pluralistic civil society and aims to undo the democratic basis of society. It is also revealed that terrorism has links with transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, trafficking of arms and also transfer of nuclear, chemical and biological materials.

A fundamental obligation of states, therefore, is to protect the basic human rights of their nationals and others by taking positive measures to protect them and bringing the terrorists to justice. However the measures adopted by some States to counter terrorism have themselves often posed serious challenges to the issues of human rights and rule of law due to infliction of torture and ill-treatment to counter terrorism in spite of availability of legal and practical safeguards to them. Thus there are some specific human rights challenges in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism; such as, questions of prohibition against torture, liberty and security of the terrorist, due process of law , right to fair trial , freedom of expression, freedom of association, surveillance of data protection, right to privacy, economic, social and cultural rights. This paper is an attempt to strengthen understanding of the complex and multifaceted relationship between human rights and terrorism.