War on Terrorism Is Contributing Towards Growing

Abuse Of Human Rights

By M. Mudassir Saeed
What have been the costs of war on terrorism in human
and economic terms? How has the war changed the social
and political landscape of the countries where it has been
waged? What is likely to be the long-term economic effect
of the war? What have been
the public health consequences of the war? Were and are
there any less costly and more effective alternative ways to
prevent further terror attacks? How has, and to what
extent, the war contributed to the abuse of human rights?
These are some frequently asked questions that the war in
the course of its continuity has raised in minds of every sane
person.

The war that began in 2001 proved tremendously painful

for millions of people across the world, especially in
Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, and the United States. Each
additional month and year of war adds to that toll.
Moreover, the human costs of this war will reverberate for
years to come in each of the affected country. The war on
terror, in fact, proved a great misfortune on the lives of its
victims. Civilians have been killed unjustly and tortured
without any reason. Evidently, behind the facade of war on
terrorism, International Law is widely being disregarded;
oppositions are being repressed, not to talk of humiliation
the values and rights have suffered at the hands of imperial
regimes. It is safe to assume that the commencing of the
war on terrorism virtually resulted in the end of the sanctity
attached to human rights.
The war on terrorism is not like any other kind of war. The
enemy, terrorism, is not a territorial state, nation or
government. There is no opposite number to negotiate
with. There is no one on the other side to call a truce or
declare a ceasefire, no one among the enemy authorized to
surrender. The “War on Terror” officially began on October
7, 2001 and was spurred by the attack on the World Trade
Center of the United States on September 11, 2001.
The “War on Terror” has led, in its wake, to grave human
rights violations and, in response, to a growing volume of
human rights litigations. Certain quarters allege that the
“War on Terror” has been exploited by Western
governments to reduce civil liberties and take away basic
human rights.
The war on terrorism came up with extensive violations of
civil and political rights that still continue to occur in the
world, with such incidents as demonstrations, shootings,
torture, hostage-takings, killings and so on. Political
participation and decision-making in the affected countries
especially Iraq and Afghanistan remain seriously impaired
by sectarian and insurgent violence, widespread corruption,
and the influence of foreign powers.
The cost of war in terms of human lives has been
increasingly painful. A research conducted by Brown
University’s Watson Institute for International Studies
indicates that over 350,000 people have died due to direct
war violence, and many more indirectly.
One of the most notorious issues and certainly the one
giving rise to the most voluminous litigation is the arbitrary
detention. Since its start, the war on terrorism has been
directly responsible for a broad array of serious human
rights violations, including torture, enforced
disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and unfair trials. In
many instances, one country or another carried out abuses
in collaboration with other governments. Many reports have
emerged of “black jails” in Afghanistan, where detainees
were secretly held without the International Red Cross
oversight as required by the Geneva Conventions.
Perhaps the most insidious is the move from illegality to
extra-legality (extraordinary rendition), the practice of
removing individuals from the protection of law altogether,
epitomized by disappearances and renditions that have
been the subject of various litigation initiatives. To the
contempt of prisoners’ rights, the United States secretly
stole away suspects to other CIA-run hidden “black site”
prisons or passed them to foreign countries with more lax
human rights standards to be interrogated via the seizure
process known as “extraordinary rendition.”
The prisoners of war on terrorism have largely been denied
the right to petition and fair trial. Significant numbers of
detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq, later, have been found
innocent. However, their unjust detention and
maltreatment has fomented desperation towards the
universal acknowledgement of human rights.
Some governments adopted abusive practices in response
to direct US pressure. Most notably, the US encouraged a
number of countries to pass draconian counterterrorism
laws, often those which expand police powers, reduce due
process guarantees, and set out vague and overbroad
definitions of terrorism.
Repressive governments, always seeking rhetorical cover
for their violations, were quick to adopt the language of
counterterrorism to help shield their abuses from critical
scrutiny. In Egypt, for example, the Hosni Mubarak regime
specifically cited the “War on Terrorism” and new security
laws passed in the United States and elsewhere to justify
the 2003 renewal of longstanding emergency powers.
The enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression,
association and assembly has long been partial, and often
perilous, for war critics across the world. The war on
terrorism has accelerated markedly the squeeze on the
exercise of these rights. Independent NGOs, critical media
outlets and public protests across the globe have all borne
the brunt of an assault on fundamental freedoms that has
been fuelled and “justified” by an increasingly aggressive
propaganda drive to depict curtailing of the rights as
necessary steps to end terrorism.
Consequent upon war on terrorism is the emergence of
unprincipled discrimination between nationals and non-
nationals, among people of different races, ethnicities and
gender. This disparate treatment raises complex issues
concerning the human right to non-discrimination.
After the massive terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center, many Muslims and Arab-Americans have been
persecuted. Muslim men have been characterized as
dangerous, violent and highly suspect within the popular
imaginary, and much of the Western media, which has led
to sanctioning of civil human rights violations, largely
through detainment, deportation and surveillance.
One of the most condemnable violations, ironically, justified
by the war on terrorism, is the massive invasion of privacy
by the intelligence agencies. The US categorically defends
this violation as a necessary step to access personal details
in order to build profiles of terror suspects by data mining.
Governments across the world are already collecting and
sharing much of the information related to personal domain
of an individual through bilateral and multilateral
agreements covering passenger name records, visa
applications and border surveillance systems, to name
some.
Of all the mysteries, sexual assault on women and men
forms the darkest secrets related to the war on terrorism.
Despite not being a traditional armed conflict, sexual
violence has been rampant in the global war on terrorism.
Whether in Guantanamo Bay’s detention centre or in the
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, sexual violence has often been
used as a tool of torture during interrogation. There have
been reports pointing out the cases when women and girls
were raped by soldiers or were forced into prostitution. The
international community has failed to address the problem
of sexual violence during armed conflicts.
The war on terrorism also harmed the educational systems
of the war-affected regions in different ways resulting in the
complete degradation of the Iraqi and Syrian education
system on the one hand and in substantial damages to the
educational institutes in Pakistan on the other. In
Afghanistan, there was no established educational
infrastructure in the pre-war years; however, war on
terrorism also failed to facilitate the learning process.
Demolition of infrastructure like schools, hospitals,
electricity supply system, etc., is also a major factor. Due
to war on terror, the victim countries’ social infrastructures
have been destroyed and the civilians are deprived of
opportunities to enjoy government services.
Pakistan has been the frontline ally of the US in war on
terrorism. With the decision of Pakistan to eliminate
terrorism of all forms and hues, a dramatic escalation in the
conflict between insurgents and Pakistan’s armed forces
was witnessed.
At least 52,000 Pakistanis (combatant and non-combatant)
have been killed since 2004 and more than 50,000 have
been injured since then by the various parties to the
conflict. This does not include the likely deaths of tens of
thousands of more combatants — both insurgents and
Pakistani forces.
While acknowledging all the grave consequences of war on
terrorism, question emerges, ‘Is there then an alternate to
war on terrorism?’ In fact, the war — both as a response
and as a strategy to eliminate terrorism — is by no means
immune to flaws. While confronting an enemy that
transcends borders and does not recognize any defined
grounds, war is not an option, at all. Wars often ensue in
additional violent conflicts over the new resources and new
political alignments created by an initial invasion or
occupation. The civil wars and criminal violence that
erupted in both Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of this
phenomenon.
Civil societies and media must work for the rights of victims
of terrorism and other violence by armed groups,
supporting them in their struggle for truth, justice and
reparation. They should expose and oppose unlawful
detentions carried out in the name of national security or
countering terrorism.
All states must respect human rights in any action they take
in the name of national security or countering terrorism. By
closing all arbitrary detention centres, shutting down
agencies run-prisons, and condemning rather than
justifying torture, the governments can make enormous
strides.
Since US declaration to start the war on terrorism, it has
substantially been contributing towards the loss of civil
liberties. From the rugged mountains of Afghanistan to the
fluvial plains of Syria, and from the settled areas of Pakistan
to the volatile regions of Iraq, the war in its wake has left
countless humans dead. Without mitigating acts of terror
and strengthening security, war on terrorism, in fact, is
espousing fear and creating a sense of repression among
certain quarters of the world. Evidently, it is nothing short
of flaws. It has wreaked so great a havoc that its effects
may not diminish quickly. There is a need to protect and
promote human rights and every one’s right related to
social, civic and political spectrum must be protected.
“Injustice any where is a threat to justice everywhere”
(Martin Luther King Jr.)