Editing Counterterrorism (section)

=== Human rights ===
[[File:John Walker Lindh Custody.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Walker Lindh]] was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|2001 invasion of Afghanistan]].]]

One of the primary difficulties of implementing effective counterterrorist measures is the waning of civil liberties and individual privacy that such measures often entail, both for citizens of, and for those detained by states attempting to combat terror.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://icct.nl/publication/accountability-and-transparency-in-the-united-states-counter-terrorism-strategy/ | title=Accountability and Transparency in the United States' Counter-Terrorism Strategy | date=22 January 2015 | publisher=The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) | access-date=6 September 2016 | archive-date=October 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018080620/https://icct.nl/publication/accountability-and-transparency-in-the-united-states-counter-terrorism-strategy/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> At times, measures designed to tighten security have been seen as [[abuses of power]] or even violations of human rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fighting-terrorism-withou_b_9513034|title=Fighting Terrorism Without Violating Human Rights|date=March 21, 2016|website=HuffPost}}</ref>

Examples of these problems can include prolonged, incommunicado detention without judicial review or long periods of 'preventive detention';<ref>de Londras, Detention in the War on Terrorism: Can Human Rights Fight Back? (2011)</ref> risk of subjecting to torture during the transfer, return and extradition of people between or within countries; and the adoption of security measures that restrain the rights or freedoms of citizens and breach principles of non-discrimination.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004" /> Examples include:

* In November 2003, [[Malaysia]] passed new counterterrorism laws, widely criticized by local human rights groups for being vague and overbroad. Critics claim that the laws put the fundamental rights of free expression, association, and assembly at risk. Malaysia persisted in holding around 100 alleged militants without trial, including five Malaysian students detained for alleged terrorist activity while studying in Karachi, Pakistan.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004" />
* In November 2003, a Canadian-Syrian national, Maher Arar, publicly alleged that he had been tortured in a Syrian prison after being handed over to the Syrian authorities by the U.S.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004" />
* In December 2003, Colombia's congress approved legislation that would give the military the power to arrest, tap telephones, and carry out searches without warrants or any previous judicial order.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004" />
* Images of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq and other locations have encouraged international scrutiny of U.S. operations in the war on terror.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* Hundreds of foreign nationals remain in prolonged indefinite detention without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay, despite international and U.S. constitutional standards some groups believe outlaw such practices.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* Hundreds of people suspected of connections with the [[Taliban]] or [[Al-Qaeda]] remain in long-term detention in Pakistan or in U.S.-controlled centers in Afghanistan without trial.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* China has used the "war on terror" to justify its policies in the predominantly Muslim [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] to stifle Uyghur identity.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* In Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen, and other countries, scores of people have been arrested and arbitrarily detained in connection with suspected terrorist acts or links to opposition armed groups.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* Until 2005, eleven men remained in high security detention in the UK under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" />
* United Nations experts condemned the misuse of counterterrorism powers by the Egyptian authorities following the arrest, detention, and designation of human rights activists Ramy Shaath and Zyad El-Elaimy as terrorists. The two activists were arrested in June 2019, and the first-ever renewal of remand detention for Shaath came for the 21st time in 19 months on 24 January 2021. Experts called it alarming, and demanded the urgent implementation of the Working Group's opinion and removal of the two's names from the "terrorism entities' list.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26739&LangID=E|title=UN experts call for removal of rights defenders Ramy Shaath and Zyad El-Elaimy from 'terrorism entities' list|access-date=11 February 2021|website=OHCHR}}</ref>

Many argue that such violations of rights could exacerbate rather than counter the terrorist threat.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004" /> Human rights activists argue for the crucial role of human rights protection as an intrinsic part to fight against terrorism.<ref name="Amnesty International 2005" /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://icct.nl/publication/preventive-counter-terrorism-measures-and-non-discrimination-in-the-european-union-the-need-for-systematic-evaluation/ |title=Preventive Counter-Terrorism Measures and Non-Discrimination in the European Union: The Need for Systematic Evaluation |date=2 July 2011 |publisher=The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism-The Hague (ICCT) | access-date= 6 September 2016}}</ref> This suggests, as proponents of [[human security]] have long argued, that respecting human rights may indeed help us to incur security. [[Amnesty International]] included a section on confronting terrorism in the recommendations in the Madrid Agenda arising from the Madrid Summit on Democracy and Terrorism (Madrid March 8–11, 2005):

{{Blockquote|Democratic principles and values are essential tools in the fight against terrorism. Any successful strategy for dealing with terrorism requires terrorists to be isolated. Consequently, the preference must be to treat terrorism as criminal acts to be handled through existing systems of law enforcement and with full respect for human rights and the rule of law. We recommend: (1) taking effective measures to make impunity impossible either for acts of terrorism or for the abuse of human rights in counter-terrorism measures. (2) the incorporation of human rights laws in all anti-terrorism programs and policies of national governments as well as international bodies."<ref name="Amnesty International 2005">Amnesty International (2005): "Counter-terrorism and criminal law in the EU. [https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior61/013/2005/en/ online]</ref>}}

While international efforts to combat terrorism have focused on the need to enhance cooperation between states, proponents of human rights (as well as [[human security]]) have suggested that more effort needs to be given to the effective inclusion of human rights protection as a crucial element in that cooperation. They argue that international human rights obligations do not stop at borders, and a failure to respect human rights in one state may undermine its effectiveness in the global effort to cooperate to combat terrorism.<ref name="Human Rights News 2004">Human Rights News (2004): "Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism", in the Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/29/global7127.htm online]</ref>