Reforms and Policies to Counter Terrorism and Protect Civil and Human Rights

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Crime, Terrorism and security
Professor
Institution
Date

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Can there be reforms and policies that will effectively encounter terrorism without the risk
of undermining the civil and human rights? Which case studies can such reforms be drawn
from?
a) Introduction/ literature
Terrorism is, in a comprehensive sense can be defined as intentional use of indiscriminate
violence as means of forming terror and anxiety among multitudes of people to achieve a
political or a religious aim. It is utilised in this regard basically to refer to violence during war
or peace time against a defenceless group; mostly neutral military personnel and civilians
(Dwigans 2016).
The terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ came from the French revolution of the late 18th
century but got more popular in the 1970s in books and news reports covering conflicts in
Palestine and Northern Ireland. The rise in use of suicide attacks from the 1980s onwards was
witnessed in New York City and Washington DC in 2001.
The terms terrorism in political context is have had different meanings over the years.
Governments use this word to denounce or abuse the opposing groups, different political
organizations have been blamed for using terrorism to attain their objectives. These
organisations comprises of national groups, right-wing and left-wing political organizations,
religious groups, ruling governments and revolutionaries (Nigel 2012).
Legislations declaring terrorism a crime has been implemented in many states, though
there has been a debate as to whether terrorism should be considered as a war crime.
Countering and preventing terrorism is a key issue for any government, states and local law
execution agencies and the federal government (Sjoberg and Gentry 2011). The goal of most

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governments is to provide community leaders with evidence-based exercises for
strengthening resilience and evolving community wide reactions that can stop and mitigate
intimidations posed by terrorists.
Terrorism has become a major problem in our society and many have written articles
about terrorism exploring possible options to end the acts that adversely affect many people.
Many have been rendered homeless lifeless due to terrorism (Richard 2012). The impact of
terrorism is too wide to comprehend in one day because many people don’t know how it feels
to go through this experience given that the terrorist are ruthless and careless. This problem
has been persistent and numerous steps have been taken without successfully getting a
solution to the problem. May be the solution can originate from finding out why people
choose to turn to terrorism this way we shall be addressing the root of the problem. Terrorism
has been a challenge over many centuries and very little have changed its massive impact on
people’s life (Schmid 2015)
Policies have been formulated to tackle the issue but very few have worked, actually their
purpose is mainly to prevent terrorism but the policies later turn out to be ineffective. Various
governments have implemented legislative reforms to help curb the giant but to no vain.
Recently France was attacked by terrorists and lost many of its citizens to the attack despite
her being a super power (Herik and Schrijver 2013). This evidently shows that among the
existing reforms and policies none have proven effective to counter terrorism. Terrorism still
remains a question that very few would ponder about given its nature.
In legal terms, the international community is yet to approve an inclusive definition of
terrorism, though existing resolutions, universal treaties and declarations relating to explicit
aspects of terrorism have defined its core elements. Terrorism has been declared illegal in
many states and strict penalties have been drafted on the same. In some jurisdictions, those

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found involved in the act of terrorism are taken before a competent court of law and the
matter is litigated upon, the judge consequently makes pronouncement based on the court’s
findings. If one is found guilty of such crime the punishment verdict rendered is heavy to
deter others from engaging in such activities. Countries treat terrorists differently, some opts
to hang terrorist while some adhere to the rule of law (Martin and Anton 2012). There are no
uniform laws on terrorism internationally; actually the laws on terrorism vary from country to
country. NIJ conducted a research to understand why people become terrorists; through this
research they termed the process as radicalization to terrorism. This has been their main
objective so as to address issues concerning terrorism.
In the human rights context, terrorism is ordinarily understood as act of violence that aims
at citizens in the quest for political or philosophical aims. Terrorism targets the destruction of
human rights, rule of law and democracy. It breaks the ethics that exist at the centre of the
Charter of the United Nations and other international tools: rights; rules regulating equipped
conflict and safe guarding of civilians; respect for human lenience among individuals and
nations; rule of law and the non-violent determination of conflict. Terrorism has an
unswerving influence on the enjoyment of human rights, specifically the rights to life,
physical integrity and liberty (Dwigans 2016). Terrorist activities can undermine
Governments, destabilize civil society, threaten security and peace, impend economic and
social development, and may particularly harmfully affect various groups. They all have a
direct influence on the enjoyment of major human rights.
b) Results/ discussions
The challenge that terrorism has posed has adversely affected the human rights in
many ways. As aforementioned terrorism has a direct effect on the enjoyment of
human rights (Saul 2014). Therefore, states have the responsibility to take appropriate
counter terrorism methods. While the technicality and degree of the trials facing states