CSS Essay | War on Terrorism is Contributing towards Growing

Abuse of Human Rights

War on Terrorism is contributing towards

Growing Abuse of Human Rights (CSS
2015)
Essay Outline: War on Terrorism is contributing
towards Growing Abuse of Human Rights
1. Introduction
2. War on Terrorism
3. What are Human Rights?
4. War on terrorism and abuses of human rights
(i) Violation of Political and social rights
(a) Loss of life
(b) Arbitrary Detention
(c) Extraordinary Rendition
(d) Denial of right to Petition
(e) Repressive laws
(f) Suppression of Freedom of Expression
(g) Discriminations
(h) Invasion of Privacy
(i) Sexual Assault
(ii) Education
Case of Iraq
(iii) Demolition of social infrastructure
5. Violations of human rights in Pakistan
6. Is there an alternate to the WOT?
7. Role of Civil Society and Media
8. Recommendations
9. Conclusion

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 the war has been
waged? What is the long term economic effect of the war likely to be? What have been the
public health consequences of the war? Were and are there alternative less costly and more

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 CSS Essay | War on Terrorism is Contributing towards Growing
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effective ways to prevent further terror attacks? How has and to what extent the war
contributed to the abuse of human rights? These are some of the frequently asked questions
that the war in the course of its continuity has raised in minds of every conscious 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 these conflicts 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 concrete reason. It is continued on a great pace and bringing more and
more societies under its enervating influence. 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, behind the facade of war on
terrorism, International law is widely being disregarded, oppositions are being repressed,
not to talk of the humiliation that 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 with a truce or declare a ceasefire, no one among
the enemy authorized to surrender The war is overseen by the United States and the United
Kingdom and also receives much support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or
NATO. 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 initial
phase of the “War On Terror” was the war in Afghanistan. This resulted in the fall of the
Taliban government as well as the destruction of the Al ‘Qaeda camps. The Iraq War began
in 2003 and has resulted in the overthrow of the Baath Party government as well as the
execution of Saddam Hussein, the nation’s former leader. The phrase “War on Terror” was
initially used by President George W. Bush on 20th September 2001.The Bush
administration and the Western media have since used the term to signify a global military,
political, and conceptual struggle targeting both organizations designated as terrorist and
regimes accused of supporting them.

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of
residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.
These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Universal human rights are
often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international
law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights
law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain
acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals

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 CSS Essay | War on Terrorism is Contributing towards Growing
Abuse of Human Rights

or groups. The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international

human rights law. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights All human rights
are indivisible. Non-discrimination against sex, colour, race, and so on is a cross-cutting
principle in international human rights law

The “War on Terror” has led, in its wake, to grave human rights violations and, in response,
to a growing volume of human rights litigation. Certain quarters allege that the “War on
Terror” has been exploited by western governments to reduce civil liberties and take away
basic human right thus the term “war” is not appropriately used in this context since there
is no single and clearly outlined enemy.

War on terrorism come 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 grave and 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. It is
expected that indirect deaths from the war, including those related to malnutrition,
damaged health infrastructure, and environmental degradation would, if tallied, outnumber
deaths from combat. Moreover, at the hands of all parties to the conflict, 220,000 civilians
have been killed, and more are expected to die in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan as the
violence continues. But most observers acknowledge that the number of civilians killed has
been undercounted. The true number of civilians dead may be much larger when an
adequate assessment is made.

One of the most notorious issue and certainly the one giving rise to the most voluminous
litigation is the arbitrary detention. Since September 2001, the war on terrorism has been
directly responsible for a broad array of serious human rights violations, including torture,
enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and unfair trials. In many instances, one
country or another carried out abuses in collaboration with other governments. The United
States government has detained hundreds of thousand of people in the ten years since 9/11,
both in “theatres of war” and around the world. Practices of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment have come to light in recent years with increasing regularity, as
epitomized by the scandals such as of Abu Gharaib or Baghram. In Iraq, over 100,000
prisoners have passed through the American-run detention system, with prisoners not
having any effective way to challenge their detention. Hidden facilities continue to be

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identified and do not comply with International Red Cross requests for site visits. In
Afghanistan, in the first three years of the war, the U.S. detained 50,000 people, holding up
to 11,000 at one time during the peak of the insurgency in March 2004. Many reports have
emerged of additional “black jails” in Afghanistan, where detainees were secretly held
without the International Red Cross oversight required by the Geneva Conventions. Afghani
prisoners have reportedly had no access to lawyers and have been unable to challenge the
basis for their imprisonment.

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 disappearance and rendition, that have been the subject of various litigation
initiatives. To the contempt of a prisoner’s rights, the United States has secretly stolen 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.” Published data suggests facilities have been located in more than
28 countries. The U.S. government has never released the numbers of persons subjected to
extraordinary rendition. Along with US, many other countries are also involved in this
heinous crime against civil liberties.

The prisoners of war on terrorism have largely been denied of 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 mistreatment has helped to foment
desperation towards the universal acknowledgement of human rights. Suspected terrorists
who are captured by the US Army are being sent to exile where nobody knows their
whereabouts be it the person’s family or the victim government. These civilians are tortured
and detained on mere remorse coming from some secret organizations of the US.
Sometimes, most of the civilians remain behind bars in the US prisons for the rest of their
life without being trialed in any court of competent jurisdiction. Under the United State Act
and Human Right Act, everyone has the right to be judged, trialed and have access to a
lawyer, but unfortunately, that is not the case here.

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 laws that expand police powers, reduce due process guarantees, and set out vague
and overbroad definitions of terrorism. Many governments latched onto the Bush
administration’s “war on terror” arguments to justify their own abuses, particularly the
notion that defeating terrorism trumps any countervailing human rights obligations.

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 government specifically cited the “war on terrorism”

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and new security laws passed in the United States and elsewhere to justify the 2003 renewal
of long-standing 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 protesters 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. Several restrictions were imposed by many governments on the name of public
security that substantially contributed to limit the rights to freedom of expression and
association, the presumption of innocence, freedom of movement, the right to privacy, and
the right to leave and return to one’s country. Police officers are given broad discretion
without procedural safeguards to fine people who show a “lack of respect” towards them.
Government authorities rather than courts have been empowered to impose fines for
numerous public order offences (violation of the right to assemble), risking fair trial
guarantees. The war on terrorism, hence, led to serious backward steps for freedom of
expression and assembly.

Consequent upon war on terrorism is the emergence of unprincipled discriminations

between nationals and non-national, among people of different races, ethnicities and
gender‫ و‬as illustrated by the widespread alleged justification of arbitrary detention of the
non-nationals in US. This Disparate treatment raises complex issues concerning the human
right to non-discrimination. Differential treatment on the basis of nationality, national
origin, ‘race’ or religion is only compatible with the right to non-discrimination if there are
objective and reasonable grounds for it. However, in the context of the current ‘war on
terror’, there are no sufficient justifications for applying powers of preventive detention or
trial by special tribunal only to foreign nationals. It is evident through law enforcement
methods or immigration policies that people are singled out for special scrutiny based on
their national origin, or their ethnic or religious appearance. In the long term, these
discriminatory anti-terrorism measures will have impacts beyond their original scope and
fundamentally reshape ordinary legal regimes and law enforcement methods.

After the massive terrorist attacks against 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 Western media, which
has lead to sanctioning of civil human rights violations, largely through detainment,
deportation, and surveillance. In fact, the Muslim/Arab communities in the West are feeling
the retaliation for something they are not remotely responsible for just because they are of a
certain ethnic group.

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One of the most condemnable violations, ironically, justified by the war on terrorism, is the
massive invasion of privacy by the intelligence agencies. The USA categorically back 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 information related to personal domain of an individual through bilateral and
multilateral agreements covering passenger name records, visa applications and border
surveillance systems, among others. Modern intelligence access often involves intrusive
methods of surveillance and investigation that are certainly at the expense of some aspects
of privacy rights.

Of all the untold 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 terror. Whether in Guantanamo Bay’s
detention centre or in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, sexual violence was often used as a
tool of torture in interrogation. In Guantanamo Bay’s detention centre, it was reported that
female interrogators used sexual torture to break Muslim prisoners into “confessing”. There
were several reports and testimonies of released prisoners which reveal that sexual violence
and sexual humiliation were used as interrogatory tactics in the detention centres. A former
US soldier, Saar, who served at Guantanamo Bay also confirmed the use of sexual torture to
coerce and interrogate prisoners. The testimony of a detainee, Jumah Al Dossari to Amnesty
International explains that he was “interrogated hundreds of times, beaten, tortured with
broken glass, barbed wire, burning cigarettes, and sexual assaults.” A series of photographs
that have been kept from public viewing for good reason speak volumes of the kind of
violence that prevailed in the prison. Some of these photos reveal an American soldier
raping a female prisoner, while some photos show instances of interrogators sexually
assaulting prisoners with all kinds of objects including things like a truncheon, wire and a
phosphorescent tube. Plenty of instances of rape of female inmates at the hands of soldiers
transpired, admitted to
having happened even by senior officials of the US.

There have been reports pointing out the cases when Women and girls were raped by
soldiers or forced into prostitution. For a long time, the international community has failed
to address the problem of sexual violence during armed conflict. However, sexual assaults,
which often involve sexual mutilation, sexual humiliation, and forced pregnancy, are quite
common. Trafficking of women increased markedly after the commencing o war. It is a form
of sexual slavery in which women are transported across national borders and marketed for
prostitution. These so-called “comfort women” are another example of institutionalized
sexual violence against women during wartime. Sexual violence is also used to silence
women who are politically active, or simply inflict terror upon the population at large.

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The war on terrorism harmed the educational systems in different ways, resulting at one
hand, in the complete degradation of the Iraqi and Syrian education system and, at other
hand, substantial damages to the educational institutes in Pakistan. In Afghanistan, where,
earlier too, there was no established educational infrastructure, however, war on terrorism
also failed to facilitate learning process.

Prior to the war on terrorism, Iraq possessed at its disposal, an appreciable level of
educational facilities. Currently, however, its educational system has nearly collapsed. Its
universities have lost the prestige that they have been enjoying in the Middle East. In the
early years of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the education system in Iraq was well resourced,
globally connected, secular and open to women. University education was free and literacy
levels rose from 52 percent in 1977 to 80 percent in 1987. However, soon, consequent upon
Iraq War, arrived the near collapse of Iraq’s educational system that was the result of the
culmination of a process of decline that war on terrorism set in pace. After the U.S. invaded
Iraq, museums and university libraries were looted and many of their cultural artefacts and
documents destroyed. Iraqi universities were stripped clean not only of cultural artefacts
like books but also of the basic infrastructural items. Equally desperate is the fact that the
war led to the removal of half the intellectual leadership in academia regardless of whether
or not they truly believed in the Baath party (Saddam’s Hussein’s party). Many professors
were kidnapped and assassinated during the violence that followed the US invasion. While
the exact number of academics killed is difficult to determine, estimates by journalists range
between 160 and 380 by 2006. Female students have meanwhile become targets of threats
and intimidation by fundamentalist militia groups. In just a decade, Iraq’s universities,
reputedly among the best in the Islamic world, were effectively destroyed.

Demolition of social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, electricity and more is also a
major factor. Due to “War on Terror”, the victim countries social infrastructures are
destroyed whereby it prevents their civilians from enjoying government benefit. According
to a 2013 recent publication by Reuters, more than a fifth of Syria’s schools have been
destroyed or made unusable in more than two years of conflict, jeopardizing the education
of 2.5 million young people. Hitherto, due to demolition of social infrastructure like
hospitals, civilians do not get access to shelter and healthcare which makes them become
very sick and malnourished. Access to healthcare remains very limited, with 15% of the
population without access to even the most basic healthcare services. In areas where
fighting continues, militants lack respect for the neutrality of healthcare facilities, making
attending these facilities dangerous. Additionally, the “War on Terror” forces citizens to
move out of their country due to the dilapidated state of the countries building after the
shootings and bombings. Since they have no place to stay and can’t get access to food and
safety, the situation compiles them to migrate to other neighbouring countries hence
becoming refugees in other to survive

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Pakistan has been the front line ally of the US in war against terrorism. With the decision of
Pakistan to eliminate terrorism of all forms and hues, there resulted a dramatic escalation of
the conflict between militant insurgents and Pakistan’s government. It is difficult to know
how many have died in Pakistan since 2001 due to the violence and how many of those are
civilians. Most of the fighting is concentrated in the Northwest, near the border with
Afghanistan, but the bloodshed not infrequently affects civilians throughout Pakistan.
Sectarian conflict targeting the country’s minority Shiites population has been on the rise in
recent years.

At least 52,000 Pakistanis (combatant and non-combatant) have been killed since 2004 and
more than 50,000 have been injured during that period by the various parties to the conflict.
This does not include the likely deaths of tens of thousands more combatants — both
insurgents and Pakistani government forces. The US began its semi-covert campaign of
drone strikes in 2004 to kill Al Qaeda and Taliban forces based in Northern Pakistan. These
strikes have killed about 3,000 people, including many civilians, as of March 2014. The
arguments about how many of the dead are civilians are nearly as intense as the disputes
about the legality of the strikes. Many legal scholars regard them as clear violations of
international law.

The burden of war is also evident in the number of Pakistanis who are both internally
displaced and who have sought refuge in other countries. Although the exact numbers are
difficult to determine, millions of Pakistanis have been pushed from their homes in the last
several years.

While acknowledging all the grave consequences of war on terrorism, question emerges, ‘Is
there then an alternate to war on terrorism?’ In fact, War both as a response and as a
strategy to eliminate terrorism is by no means flawless. While confronting an enemy that
transcends borders and does not recognize any define grounds, war at all is not an option. A
research conducted by Rand Corporation made systematic examination and comparison of
268 groups using terror tactics in the period from 1968 to 2006. It showed that several
approaches have been much more effective than military responses at eliminating future
attacks. They include criminal justice responses and attempts to address the well-being
concerns of both combatants and the broader populace that might support them. The study
found that 40 percent of the 268 groups were eliminated through ‘intelligence and policing’
methods; 43 percent ended their violence as a result of ‘peaceful political accommodation’;
10 percent ceased their violent activity because they had achieved their objectives
(“victory”) by ‘violence’; and only 7 percent were defeated ‘militarily’.

Military responses have often created more extensive violent response and terrorism
against the civilian population caught between two opposing forces. The wars in
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan have served as an effective recruiting device for new

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terrorists. For example, contrary to the US government’s rationale that invading Iraq would
prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for terrorists, the country has instead
become a laboratory in which militant groups have been able to hone their techniques of
propaganda, recruitment, and violence against the most highly trained military in the world.
The number of terrorist attacks in Iraq rose precipitously following the 2003 invasion and
has not returned to its pre-war level.

In addition, wars often create the conditions for 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. Moreover, as thousands of people are still going ‘disappeared
therefore, media and civil society in this regard have an obligation to run campaign to probe
and recover the disappeared persons and for an end to enforced disappearances. Civil
societies must continue to demand respect for the absolute prohibition of torture and other
ill-treatment. During their struggle to liberate civil rights they should, however, know, that
the global legacy of the past years may not be quick to disappear and the example of abuses
committed by states through the world, especially by U. S, will not be easily forgotten.
Therefore, the struggle against human rights violation must continue, at one hand, at a
consistent and steady pace and at other hand, should cover all consequent aspects of the
war.

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 government administrations
can make enormous strides. Not only should the governments reform their own practices,
they should also remedy their impacts on the affected peoples. Constitutional amendments
and ordinances that led towards the tightening of the law should be repealed and brought in
conformity with the constitution and ensure that these do not violate fundamental rights.
Instead of proclaiming repressive laws in the entire country, the governments should invoke
emergency powers (nearly in all countries, constitution enshrine emergency powers to the
governments) at a limited scale to suspend fundamental rights in selected areas troubled
with the conflicts. While countering terrorism, respect should be paid to the universally
acknowledged principle that all people are equal before the law. Every person has the right
to either be charged and fairly tried, or be released, and not tortured or abused.

All directly-involved governments especially US have a duty to take a fresh look at creating

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truth commissions in their respective countries that could provide a comprehensive view of
the policies and practices behind abuses and the connections across institutions, as well as
the human and political consequences of policies and actions. In addition to investigating
and determining the facts and holding the architects of these abuses to account, the victims
of such serious rights violations should be provided redress.

Since US declaration to wage a war against 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 led countless humans dead. It is continued on a great pace and bringing
more and more societies under its enervating influence. 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, behind the facade of war on
terrorism, International law is widely being disregarded; oppositions are being repressed,
not to talk of the humiliation that values and rights have suffered at the hands of imperial
regimes. Now, when the war has reached this dark end, it is now or never for all the stake
holders to stop and pour over the utility of the war. Evidently, it is nothing short of flaws. It
has wreaked so great a havoc that its effects may not disappear 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.

“We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred is a wedge
designed to attack our civilization”
(Franklin D. Roosevelt)

“Injustice any where is a threat to justice everywhere”

(Martin Luther King Jr.)

“Only the dead has seen the end of war” (Plato)

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