Politics of Human Rights Protection in An Era of Global Terrorism

Human rights protection has been a major concern to States all over the world owing to the prominence it has enjoyed globally. The attainment of human right protection through several legal safeguards has not enhanced the protection of human rights on account of global terrorism. In September 2001, the world watched in horror as four passenger airlines all departed from the U.S East coast airport were hijacked by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorist and flown into public buildings in the United States. Two of the planes crashed into the world trade center, a third hit the United State pentagon building and the forth which was initially headed for Washington crashed into a nearby field. According to official reports, in total, the attack resulted in the loss of 2,996 lives, $10 billion in property and infrastructure, and attracted total cost of $3 trillion. The United States responded by quickly launching a war against terror and invading Afghanistan with the objective of deposing the Taliban which it believed harbored AI-Qaeda. Many countries also responded by strengthening their anti-terrorism laws and giving wider powers to law enforcement and security agencies to prevent or neutralize terrorist attack. The focus of this paper is to examine the impact of terrorism on human rights as well as to critically review the measures put in place by the State and its security agencies in countering terrorism. It is evidently the use of threat or violence to intimidate and cause panic especially as a means of forcing government to do or refrain from doing certain acts that is generally known as terrorism which erode the fundamental rights of the citizens of a State irrespective of legal measures for the protection of such inalienable rights.