The Implications of United Kingdom Anti-Terror Laws for the International Human Rights Standard

Abstract

Human rights are principles and officially permitted guarantees which shield persons and association of persons from the conducts and blunders largely by government officials that meddle with basic liberties, privileges and human solemnity. Human rights generally concern the reverence of, the realization and the safeguards of such-cultural rights, political, economic and civil rights including the right to development. Human rights are global in nature and sacred to human existence. There are various international treaties, conventions and regulations that outline the various human rights and how they are to be adopted, applied and enforced by nations. On the other hand, terrorism could be construed as wilful illicit violent activities which target members of the public, causing fear and sometimes inflicting significant amount of actual bodily harm and death, for the purpose of propagating social, religious and political ideology. Since the terror attacks that occurred in New York in September 2001, many countries including the United Kingdom have tightened their national security as well as amending their anti-terror laws. However, there is growing concern that some of such laws, especially in the case of the United Kingdom, are destroying the relative good reputation of the country in terms of human rights adherence. Human rights observers have put up the argument that; “compromising human rights cannot serve the struggle against terrorism. On the contrary, it facilitates achievement of the terrorist’s objectives by ceding to him the moral high ground, and provoking tension, hatred and mistrust of government among precisely those parts of the population where he is most likely to find recruits. The paper evaluates a number of questions regarding the regulatory framework surrounding the enforcement of the UK Anti-terrorism legislation and the extent to which these laws and the enforcements conform to the ECHR and the other International Human Rights Law. It suggests that there are prevailing conflicts between the preservation of Human Rights and the preservation of public safety in the United Kingdom.