Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the relationship between counter-terrorism and protecting human rights. These observations are based on the lead author's experiences of working in numerous countries as a human rights specialist and former British Diplomat. These countries included Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, various parts of Africa and the Far East. The paper includes a discussion around defining human rights and terrorism, the challenges and implications that terrorism poses to the state as well as highlighting key legislation to outline the crucial balance between rights and counter-terrorism powers.