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In the US
In Brief
Human Rights and the War on Terror
Report from Panel Discussion at American University Law School by HI Intern Nesma Bensalem
Human Rights and the War on Terror
Thursday, May 31st
Human Rights and the War on Terror
(American University – Washington College of Law)
Elisa Massimino (Director, Human Rights First)
Manfred Nowak (UN Special Rapporteur on Torture)
Martin Scheinin (UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Terrorism)
Panelists Elisa Massimino (Director of Human Rights First), Manfred Nowak (UN Special Rapporteur on Torture) and Martin Scheinin ( UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Terrorism) held a conference at the American University College of Law to discuss issues such as torture and terrorism related to human rights and war.
Terrorism has multiple definitions and until all countries can agree on one, there will always be excuses for the weapons and acts they use to fight terrorism. Nowadays there's still not a real prohibition of torture and unfortunately we can see that it's starting to get more and more accepted as a normal tool by soldiers. Countries including the United States use the excuse of using torture as a weapon to fight against terrorism. With such drastic measures that are actually punishable by the death sentence in the United States if torture results in death, is it really the right way to fight terrorism? Doesn't it on the contrary allow violence to grow?
Since 9/11 and the United States going to Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism has actually multiplied. The panelists thought that the first step to ban torture and fight against terrorism is a government willing to change and willing to accept certain policies to be changed. The United States needs to be a leader in Human Rights first before the others countries can follow. If such a powerful country that had such a history of respect for the rule of law and a strong level of judicial protection starts to slide away from the path, who's going to lead the example? Martin Scheinin sees his visit as a first step for restoring the United States as a leader for respecting human rights including in the context to fighting terrorism.
The lack or the confusion of a humanitarian standard is quite alarming. The US is at risk because they are failing to follow human rights standards and other countries are taking notice. Without those standards it affects the US' capability to lead as nobody knows what the US is capable of anymore, said the panelists. Approximately 700 people are being held in Afghanistan and 18,000 in Iraq and the President asserts the right to continue secret interrogations and the right to hold people without trial. The problems of the secret facilities in those two countries have become urgent.
Due to all those confusion and different practices to fight against war, some people start to wonder about what this “war'' is really about. “Is it a war against Islam?”, one person asked. “Is it a war to show ‘the power' of the United States?” “Is it a ‘war' against terrorism?”
Due to ignorance, lack of information, and human rights not being respected, people's judgments have become affected and suddenly a whole community, a whole religion is being critiqued instead of seeing terrorists as individuals.
-Nesma Bensalem
