4 August 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS AND OUR RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
The death of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent member of the public on his way to work in London who was pursued and shot eight times by undercover police officers, raises more disturbing questions about the place of human rights in the response of the western world to terrorism.
The continued incarceration of David Hicks, the Australian citizen still awaiting trial before a US military court in Guantanamo Bay after almost four years, raises similar concerns especially in view of the continued and increasing doubts about the fairness of the process to which he will be subjected.
When other instances of an apparent disregard of individual rights and dignity such as the illegal deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Solon and the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau are considered, when arguments justifying the mistreatment and even torture of prisoners are seriously advanced by public figures, when further security measures such as the increased use of surveillance cameras, the introduction of random searches of bags on public transport and the institution of a national identity card system are advocated by a government that engages in lies, deceit and evasion of responsibility as evidenced by the 'children overboard' affair, the reasons given for joining the war in Iraq, the mistreatment of asylum seekers, SIEV X, etc and when those within the government or public service are marginalised for speaking the truth, one wonders if our society is losing its way.
Various commentators in Australia are increasingly questioning if our fear and concern for security is threatening key values that are at the core of our society and its institutions.
Recent examples reflecting on this concern have been reported in CathNews 'An electrician dies in London' (1/8) and 'Laws that erode rights more dangerous to liberty than terrorists' (3/8)
Similar concerns have been raised by Amnesty Australia where it is argued that :-
"Effective action against terrorism can be taken without violating human rights. One of the best weapons to combat the root causes of terrorism is the full observance of human rights."
The continued incarceration of David Hicks, the Australian citizen still awaiting trial before a US military court in Guantanamo Bay after almost four years, raises similar concerns especially in view of the continued and increasing doubts about the fairness of the process to which he will be subjected.
When other instances of an apparent disregard of individual rights and dignity such as the illegal deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Solon and the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau are considered, when arguments justifying the mistreatment and even torture of prisoners are seriously advanced by public figures, when further security measures such as the increased use of surveillance cameras, the introduction of random searches of bags on public transport and the institution of a national identity card system are advocated by a government that engages in lies, deceit and evasion of responsibility as evidenced by the 'children overboard' affair, the reasons given for joining the war in Iraq, the mistreatment of asylum seekers, SIEV X, etc and when those within the government or public service are marginalised for speaking the truth, one wonders if our society is losing its way.
Various commentators in Australia are increasingly questioning if our fear and concern for security is threatening key values that are at the core of our society and its institutions.
Recent examples reflecting on this concern have been reported in CathNews 'An electrician dies in London' (1/8) and 'Laws that erode rights more dangerous to liberty than terrorists' (3/8)
Similar concerns have been raised by Amnesty Australia where it is argued that :-
"Effective action against terrorism can be taken without violating human rights. One of the best weapons to combat the root causes of terrorism is the full observance of human rights."
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