War On Terrorism Is Contributing Towards

Growing Abuse Of Human Rights

Written by: M. Mudassir Saeed on September 11, 2015.
We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred is a wedge designed to attack our
civilization (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

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
Universitys 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 Bays 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
Pakistans 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 ones right related to social, civic and political spectrum must
be protected.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere (Martin Luther King Jr.)