Over the years, terrorism has been an issue of International concern. Methods of obtaining information on terrorist activities have revolutionized thanks to technological developments. Surveillance has been used to obtain both covert and overt information for long. However, there is a rising human rights concern on surveillance. Even though one may be a suspected terrorist, Human Rights dictate that government and investigating officers should uphold their right to privacy. Surveillance should not be done in a persons` private home nor the workplace since it is unlawful.
Surveillance may result in collateral intrusion, a situation where one`s right to privacy is breached and law enforcement agencies fail to find any conclusive evidence linking them to any criminal activities. Some state legislation requires that a person be informed that surveillance was done after it is complete (Carr, 2006). Another way the right to privacy is breached is by interception of communication.
When it comes to interrogation, torture is an act that violates the United Nations Convention against Torture, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Geneva Conventions (Shor & Hoadley, 2020). The word torture means inflicting pain, either physical or mental, to obtain valuable information from them. Scholars distinguish torture into three categories, interrogational, dehumanizing, and terroristic torture. Advocators for torture argue that it is inevitable in our modern world. Though it proves to be an effective way of gaining information, scholars argue that there may be alternative means to gaining the same information. Despite the illegality of the act, it is still being used by governments to get terrorists to talk.
