Counter terrorism has been a major crisis in the world following the terrorists’ attacks that have been taking place in the world over the decades. In our today society, terrorism is characterized by increasing religious and cultural motivations and declining the respect of human lives including those of the terrorists themselves. The attacks are aided by the modern warfare technology which makes it easier for the terrorists to carry out their plans. Due to increase in terrorist activities, many international bodies have gunned up to protect civil and human rights. According to Donohue (2008), international human rights are important as they trump national interests. The violation of human rights is ineffective as it undermines the moral authority of democracies and destroys international cooperation among countries.
Counter terrorism being an urgent problem that needs to be handled urgently, many countries have imposed legislative measures that negatively affect civil liberties and fundamental human rights (Shor &Hoadley,2019). For example, in some areas suspects are exposed to torture which violates human rights according to the international law. Shor & Hadley (2019) postulate that some laws such as the American convention are incompatible with self-amnesty as they still violate petitioners’ rights to fair trial. In counteracting terrorism, international human rights need to be observed and so the United Nations have made an effort to help observe this rights through the, UN Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force. Methods of handling counterterrorism revolutionise over time as governments are focused on eliminating terrorists at all costs while at the same time they do so in regulation of the international law of human rights.
In conclusion, terrorism has been a major crisis almost in every part of the world. Measures put across to counter terrorism, violate the civil and human rights and therefore the international law tries to protect the civil and human rights in such cases. It is therefore recommendable for governments to observe human rights while dealing with counter terrorism.
