Have US human rights violations soared in the 9/11 aftermath?

US President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism on 12 September 2001. The previous day had witnessed an infamous terrorist attack that ended thousands of lives. The attack was unique not because of the act itself but because of the response to it, beginning with the declaration of war on terror. Hundreds were rounded up. Their fundamental constitutional rights were suspended. There was a rush to legislate even greater restrictions to their freedom. They were detained indefinitely without charge or trial. They were denied legal advice and representation. There were suggestions that torture was permissible. The declaration of war on terror unleashed a global commitment to combat terrorism with no regard for national boundaries or international law. The US received worldwide sympathy. There was global condemnation of terrorism in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Nobody disputed the nature of terrorism or its inherent evil. However, there is serious disagreement about the manner of the response to terrorism, as manifest in relation to the ensuing war against Iraq.

The hundreds of immigrants detained by the United States were of West Asian or North African origin. They were Islamic in belief. Very few of them were charged with a criminal offence. Most were detained for many months on the grounds of immigration. These detainees were denied their constitutional rights to silence, access to legal advice and representation and even the right to contact their families. They were dealt with secretly before closed courts. The US led the way with new legislation to restrict human rights: the USA PATRIOT Act. This new approach was in evidence at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where captured Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects were held without the protection of international humanitarian, or human rights, laws. The US administration stated that the provisions on treatment of prisoners in the Geneva Conventions did not apply to these detainees.

Detainees in Guantanamo Bay have been denied the protection of rights provided under the US constitution. They are imprisoned under inhumane conditions, subjected to degrading treatment and even to torture. They have been denied due process rights such as the right to legal representation and the right to be tried openly before a court. Many have been held for dozens of months and still await the determination of their fate.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’ TO GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

The attacks on 11 September by al-Qaeda led to the declaration of a global war on terror by the Bush administration. The prompt development of more rigorous counter-terrorism initiatives has had an adverse effect of exacerbating human rights violations. This holds true not only in the United States but also in other countries that joined the global war on terror as partners. Some countries that routinely contravene in the human rights of political prisoners received indirect support from the US to expand their brutal practices. Other nations renowned for respect of human rights by institutional monitoring of excessive state power also used the occasion to erode such measures. This resulted in laxer checks on state activities that might undermine the human rights of suspected terrorists (Hammarberg 2011).

Observers have accused the Bush administration of undermining these rights. European nations have also been accused of restricting civil liberties for terror suspects. Human rights organizations have accused the European Union of facilitating the illegal transport of suspected terrorists to prisons in developing countries where they are likely to undergo torture. Human Rights Watch asserts that many countries used the 9/11 attacks to justify their own hard line treatment of political opponents. They also used the occasion to advance their restrictive and punitive treatment of refugees and other foreigners.

The Constitution Project’s bipartisan Task Force on Detainee Treatment has reported that the US government partook in the widespread torture of suspects detained during the ‘War on Terror’. The report details widespread abuses against detained suspects including prolonged detention, physical abuse, rendering to undisclosed locations and other inhuman and degrading treatment, including torture. Observers have called for the creation of a truth commission by the US government to provide a comprehensive view of the practices behind rights violations. The apparent reluctance of the Obama Administration to do so has dismayed them. The current government stresses the need to look to the future rather than dwell on the past.

Observers have pointed the finger at the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) program. This RDI policy has allegedly entailed systematic human rights violations. Through this program, the CIA allegedly captured terror suspects in foreign lands, oftentimes with assistance from local security agencies, and transported them to some third-world states for interrogation. This placed the suspected perpetrators beyond the reach of any justice system, rendering them vulnerable to mistreatment.

GLOBAL COLLABORATION IN RIGHTS VIOLATION OF TERROR SUSPECTS

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, most European nations are said to have signed up for blanket approval for access to airfields under the NATO framework. Many governments also engaged in secret joint operations with US military and intelligence agencies. Sweden allegedly handed over two Egyptian political refugees to CIA personnel. The team then went on to blindfold, beat up and photograph the men, before carrying out further abuses. They then forced them aboard a waiting plane that took them back to Egypt where they were detained and tortured. This pattern of abuse was subsequently repeated in other European states in the next three years.

Even though security agencies have acknowledged many such renditions as being ‘mistakes’, no proper investigations have been carried out. Cover-ups have been the typical responses of governments. For instance, the Swedish government deceived a parliamentary commission that was seeking clarification of the facts. Furthermore, the government gave out erroneous information to a UN human rights organization. Many other governments have moved to keep undesirable revelations from the public sphere.

In carrying out its global war on terror, the US relied on assistance from a variety of other countries. A notable example of US collaboration with other governments in carrying out abuses is their cooperation with Pakistan. Pakistani intelligence agencies worked closely with the CIA to make terrorist suspects disappear. They were held in secret detention where they were subjected to torture and other abuses that were in violation of their basic human rights. Some governments perpetrated abuses at the behest of the US in order to gain favour or funding. Nevertheless, this collaboration was often genuine due to the apparent interests of the two nations being in alignment. For instance, Libya took custody of some Libyan nationals rendered to them by the CIA between 2004 and 2006. Even though the detention and questioning of these suspects supposedly served US interests, the Libyan government had its own reasons for detaining them.

The forms of collaboration ranged from sharing of intelligence to prisoner transfers. Some allowed US authorities to detain prisoners on their territory. Many of these collaborators received millions of dollars in US military assistance. Some governments embraced abusive practices due to direct pressure from the US. For instance, the US encouraged some countries to pass harsh counterterrorism legislation that often expanded police powers while reducing due legal process guarantees. Many governments mimicked the Bush administration’s use of ‘war on terror’ to justify their abuses, especially the idea that eliminating terrorism trumps any opposing human rights commitments.

*Joash Ntenga Moitui is a Fellow at the Pan-African University, Institute of Governance and Regional Integration.

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