Unprecedented UN Warning: Don't Curb Freedom to Fight Terrorism

by Thalif Deen

The warning, in a statement released Nov. 29, is unprecedented and is an implicit challenge to the backlash against civil liberties under way in the West and especially in the United States, Canada, and Britain, said a senior UN official.

"The purpose of anti-terrorism measures is to protect human rights and democracy, not to undermine these fundamental values of our societies," said the statement, issued by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer, and Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, U.S. authorities have detained for questioning more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin. Several civil and human rights organizations have said these detentions are the result of "racial profiling" and have violated constitutional procedures and protections.

The United States also has been criticized for its plans to subject foreigners suspected of conducting or aiding terrorism to trial by military tribunal without the due process and evidentiary rules found in civilian courts.

Additionally, U.S. law enforcement officials are being armed with new powers to conduct wiretaps, intercept e-mail, and monitor phone conversations of suspected or potential terrorists.

The British government has followed in Washington's footsteps with a series of new anti-terrorism measures. Last week, Home Secretary David Blunkett said Britain plans to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights so that it can impose indefinite detention without trial on foreigners suspected of terrorism.

He tempered his statement, however, by saying that "in the United States, they can use the military courts and present evidence. I would not advocate that course here."

Last month, the Canadian government introduced similar stringent legislation aimed at fighting foreign terrorists domestically.

Under the new laws, police and immigration authorities will be given the power to compel testimony during investigations and nullify the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination.

The Canadian government also is tightening its asylum and refugee policies and requires that immigrants be identified by a plastic identity card which they are expected to carry at all times.

"While we recognize that the threat of terrorism requires specific measures, we call on governments to refrain from any excessive steps which would violate fundamental freedoms and undermine legitimate dissent," the three international officials said in their statement.

Some rights, they argued, may not be diluted under any circumstances. These include the right to life; freedom of thought; conscience and religion; freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and the principles of precision and non-retroactivity of criminal law except where a later law imposes a lighter penalty.

For other rights, they said, any derogation is only permitted under special circumstances defined in international human rights law.

Prior to issuing the statement, Robinson had warned that some countries -- which she declined to identify by name in public -- were introducing measures in apparent violation of core human rights safeguards. She said states were treating non-violent dissent as terrorism and were taking "excessive measures" to suppress individual rights.

Taking up the theme, Malaysian Ambassador Hasmy Agam decried the "frequency of racist acts perpetrated against Muslims" since the Sept. 11 attacks and urged Robinson "to use the moral weight of her office to help prevent anti-Islam sentiments from gaining common currency, and to facilitate continued dialogue on the importance of tolerance and respect for diversity, which is needed now more than ever."

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Syria also expressed dismay, particularly with respect to racial profiling, in which individuals are targeted for investigation on the basis of racial characteristics; in this case, suspicion of terrorism based on Islamic or Middle Eastern traits.

Robinson's office, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE said they stand ready to assist countries with developing appropriate legislative responses to terrorism, and to monitor the implementation of anti-terrorist legislation.