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About the Panel
Why a panel on counter-terrorism and human rights?
With continuing widespread fear of terrorist attacks and a security-dominated agenda, governments are redefining and seeking to bypass well-established human rights and rule of law principles. Terrorism itself puts human rights in peril and states have a duty to protect people from terrorist acts. However, new, and old, counter-terrorism measures worldwide threaten the rule of law and human rights.
The legal and human rights community is struggling to meet this global challenge in an effective and coordinated way. Policy-makers dismiss general statements of human rights principles as unrealistic and the public in many countries seem ready to accept an erosion of rights. Some states have faced cycles of terrorism and counter-terrorism for decades, yet policy-makers are not listening to the lessons of history. Despite signs of an emerging rhetorical acceptance by democratic states that their fight against terrorism should not jeopardize democratic values, there is still little agreement on what this means in practice for the work of the police, the military, anti-terror units and the courts.
There is a need to move from principle to a more sophisticated and detailed exploration of the issues. What are the acceptable limits of counter-terrorism measures? What is the nature of today's security threats and how different are they to past threats? Do these threats justify changing existing rules of international human rights and humanitarian law? How should laws and policies change if they are both to confront terrorism effectively and respect human rights and the rule of law?
The legal community worldwide must now take a leadership role in articulating how the rule of law can be respected in addressing terrorism in its many complex global and local forms.
To meet this challenge,
the ICJ launched in October 2005 the Eminent Jurists’ Panel on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights. Consisting of a series of international hearings to be held in different countries and regions over 18 months, the panel is headed by highly respected judges and lawyers of world renown. Based on their findings, the Panel will make firm and realistic recommendations on how the international community can best respond to this global challenge.
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