To what extent has the fight against terrorism stifled human
and people’s rights?
"Terrorism is the
unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or
coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in
furtherance of political or social objectives.
It is difficult to distinguish between a terrorist
and a freedom fighter and terrorism cannot be fought by indiscriminate violence
and terror on innocent civilians including arbitrary detentions and illegal
arrests which have been common practices in the whole world. Terrorism has been
caused by a number of injustices that take place in our communities including
discrimination, deprivation of resources, freedom of association, revenge, and
political power among others.
There are a number
ways through which terrorism is conducted and these includes bombing,
kidnapping, hostage taking, armed attacks and assassinations, arson and fire
outbreaks, plane hijacking and many others
Below is the extent
to which the fight against terrorism has stifled fundamental human rights in
the world especially after the September 11th attack.
1. Violation of the freedom from torture
Art 44 (a) of the
1995 Ugandan constitution, Art 5 of UDHR, Art 7 of ICCPR prohibits Torture,
inhuman and degrading treatment and this right is none derogable and Uganda is
a signatory to these international instruments Sec 4 of the prohibition of
torture Act 2012 criminalize torture. During the Lugogo Bomb attack in Uganda ,terrorism
suspects were tortured in ungazzeted
safe houses and police cells according to UHRC report
The police detaining center in kireka (former RRU) has had a high profile since the Kampala bombings in July 2010 in which 79 people were killed. Several suspects were brought to the unit, interrogated, held incommunicado and beyond the statutory time limits. In some instances, individuals who had been charged for the bombing were brought from the prison back to the unit headquarters in Kireka to face further questioning this is according to human rights watch report of 2011 on Uganda’s human rights records .
The police detaining center in kireka (former RRU) has had a high profile since the Kampala bombings in July 2010 in which 79 people were killed. Several suspects were brought to the unit, interrogated, held incommunicado and beyond the statutory time limits. In some instances, individuals who had been charged for the bombing were brought from the prison back to the unit headquarters in Kireka to face further questioning this is according to human rights watch report of 2011 on Uganda’s human rights records .
2. Violation of
the right to personal liberties
Everyone has the right to liberty and security
of person -- including the right to be free from arbitrary arrest or detention.
When the state deprives a person of liberty, it assumes a duty of care to
maintain that person's safety and safeguard his or her welfare. Detainees are
not to be subjected to any hardship or constraint other than that resulting
from the deprivation of liberty. These rights are guaranteed by Article 7 and
10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
which, respectively, prohibit torture and ill-treatment and safeguard the
rights of people deprived of their liberty. They are also reflected in a number
of other international human rights treaties. The prohibition on torture
and ill-treatment apply to all people all the time. In Uganda this right is
guaranteed in Art 23 of the 1995 Ugandan constitution however a number of people
arrested on terrorism charges have been deprived of this right by over
detentions, illegal arrests and unprofessional interrogations.
3. Right to a fair
hearing
Terrorism in the whole world has led to
infringement of this fundamental human rights to the extent that fair hearing
is totally ignored, the transfer of suspects from Kenya and Tanzania during the
Lugogo Bomb attack didn’t fallow legal procedures of extradition requirements
and this may affect the cases, access to these suspects while in police custody
in kireka was almost impossible not forgetting the over detention in police
custody for over 3 months before appearing in court all this is a violation
of Art 28 of the Ugandan constitution,
Art 3 (a)-(g) of ICCPR and Art 10 of UDHR where Uganda is a member.
4. Violation of
the right to life
The right to life is a fundamental human right
regardless of whether one is a suspect or not, this is only permitted under
clear laid down circumstances a number of people have lost their lives under
the guise of fighting terrorism for instance the “shot to kill “has been applied
in some countries On the 22/July/2005 at 10:00am in stock well station of
London underground, officers of the Anti-terrorism brigade killed Jean Charles by
shooting him seven times in the head. After this incident, the chief of police
Ian Blair justified the action of shot to kill policy in order to face the challenges
of terrorism, these actions become common especially after the September 11th
bomb attack. Art 22 of the Ugandan constitution, Art 3 of the UDHR and Art 6 of
the ICCPR guarantees the right to life for all people.
5. Violation of Freedom
of presumption of innocence of all accused persons
The rules of natural justice requires that one
is presumed innocent until proved guilty this means that before the court
decides the case the accused is presumed innocent, however terrorism suspects
have been treated differently for example in Uganda for the first time we saw
leg chains used on Lugogo Bomb attack suspects, tight security at court, heavy
escort to and from court among others. Art 28 3 (a) of the 1995 constitution,
Art 2 of ICCPR and Art 10 of the UDHR guarantees the freedom from presumption of
innocence but this is different from terrorism suspects leading violation of
their right.
6. Violation of
the right to freedom from discrimination
All people should be treated equally and free
from discriminations, with the coming of terrorism, some sections of the
society are being discriminated because of religion ethnicity or geographical location,
in Uganda the Somali community has suffered this discriminations, the Muslim
community have been labeled terrorist world over this is in contravention of
ICCPR Art 24, UDHR Art 7 and Ugandan 1995
constitution Art 21.After the twin tower attack in USA a number of Muslims were
arbitrary arrested and detained without formerly being charged, the same
happened in Uganda after the Kyadondo attack some were later released without
any charge.
7. Infringement on
the right to education
A number of education centers for Muslims
called (madras) have been closed under claims that they promote radicalism and
brainwashing for the young people to join terrorism activities. This has
happened in different parts in Uganda and other countries like Kenya, such
actions deprive the right to education contrary to Art 26 of UDHR, Art 30 of
the 1995 Ugandan constitution, it also infringes on the right to personal
determination .
8. Terrorism has
infringed on the right to privacy
The right to privacy is guaranteed under Art
27 of the 1995 Ugandan constitution no one is allowed to subject another to an unlawful
search of all forms including the correspondences, in this error of terrorism
security agencies scan, search without permission, open, read and impound any
luggage, correspondence suspected to contain terrorism materials. In doing all
that, the privacy is lost leading to violation of this right contrary to Art 27
of the Ugandan constitution.
On the other hand terrorism hasn’t only led to
infringement of the rights, it has also helped in the following ways.
o
Increased vigilance among the security and civilian population
through continuous terrorism sensitization programs on both print and
electronic media
Promotion of the spirit of togetherness and cooperation
especially among security organs locally and internationally through
information sharing, training and fighting the crime through initiatives like
EAPCCO, SARPCO, NTERPOL among others.
Improved security situation which may lead economic development
in long run
Terrorism led to the enactment of the Anti-terrorism Act 2012 in Uganda
Employment opportunities for specialist in the area and in the united nations.
through awareness some institutions and alerts have been initiated .
through awareness some institutions and alerts have been initiated .
In conclusion the fight against terrorism got
a new face after the 11th September 2001 attack in united states of
America, the event reconfirmed the view that international terrorism is a crime
against humanity and that the states should treat it that , this led to
enactment of specific laws to handle such crimes for instance in Uganda Anti-Terrorism Act 2012. The biggest challenge however is
the way in which security agencies and states are bringing the suspects to book
and at the same time observing the fundamental human rights. In summary the
fight against terrorism has stifled the human and people’s rights to a larger
extent in my view and something should be done to reverse this trend especially
by adopting more humane remedies especially aimed at redressing the obvious
cause of terrorism. It is common knowledge that radical and hard line lethal Anti-terror
approaches shall only engender radicalism especially if the usual suspects are
largely members of a certain religions which radicalism is largely associated
with Islamic fundamentalism especially in the Middle East.
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