About protecting human rights while countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism

About terrorism

There is by now wide consensus that to be effective and sustainable, security policies and counterterrorism strategies and practices must be firmly grounded in the protection of human rights and respect for the rule of law. Through the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, all Member States have agreed to a holistic, integrated approach to addressing terrorism effectively, with human rights and the rule of law as its fundamental basis.

In practice, however, ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law in the security and counter-terrorism context remains a challenge. Issues of ongoing concern include:

• The enactment and implementation in some jurisdictions of broadly formulated national counter-terrorism legislation, as well as the abusive use of such legislation to curb otherwise legitimate activity;
• Challenges to due process and the right to a fair trial, including practices related to intelligence-led law enforcement; due process issues related to the implementation of individual sanctions;
• Arbitrary and/or prolonged detention, torture and ill-treatment, and other issues related to the protection of persons deprived of their liberty;
• A lack of accountability, including the failure of many States to undertake public and independent investigations of past involvement in renditions;
• Surveillance policies and practices adopted by some States without adequate safeguards to ensure respect for human rights, in particular the right to privacy.

National and international counter-terrorism strategies have concentrated on a security approach, with insufficient attention being paid to addressing the broader conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, including ethnic, national and religious discrimination, inequalities, political exclusion, exploitation, and denial of economic and social rights, corrupt governance and judicial institutions, and a climate of impunity.

Harsh counter-terrorism measures that violate human rights are self-defeating; they could provide grist to the mill of terrorist groups and feed the grievances on which they thrive. Civil society often helps States and the UN “take the pulse” of what is going on in communities, and by drawing on its analysis, counter-terrorism policies can be calibrated to ensure that unintended impacts are known and avoided.

In short, counter-terrorism and the promotion of human rights are not competing goals: they are complementary. They must viewed as complementary rather than separate objectives.

About violent extremism conducive to terrorism

Violent extremism remains a complex and diverse topic to grasp. It is a broader phenomenon than terrorism and is not confined to a specific region, nationality, ideology, or other belief system, as stated in the UN Secretary General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. However, there is no clear, universally agreed definition of violent extremism. Indeed, the term ‘extremism’ has no basis in binding international legal standards.

Policies and practices directed toward the prevention of violent extremism (PVE) have expanded considerably within the UN system, domestic institutions, and regional bodies over the past years. However, it remains a challenge to ensure that national institutions integrate human rights and the rule of law in effective PVE strategies. The inconsistent approach to defining violent extremism has led to vague definitions that both undermine effective PVE measures and are used as justifications for violating the human rights and fundamental freedoms of certain groups and individuals.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights has identified recurrent components of best practices and lessons learned on human rights-compliant programming aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism conducive to terrorism (A/HRC/33/29). These include community engagement and youth empowerment. When such preventive measures explicitly take into account gender perspectives, and are inclusive and tailored to specific local contexts, they can help foster a climate of trust. In that spirit, protecting civic space and ensuring people’s participation in processes that affect them, including in the development of counter-terrorism measures, are threshold requirements for building resilience, peace, and development.