Let’s Say No To Political Terrorism

The terms terrorists and political terrorism emerged in the late 1780’s during the French revolution, when terror was virtuous; the authorities, in their desperate attempt to hold on to power, mercilessly dealt with the alleged enemies to the democratic principles of the revolution.

Some experts, however, expostulate that arbitrary arrests, inexplicable detentions, political imprisonment, torture, murder and/or summary executions, amount to political terrorism (Neumayer 2005).

Interestingly, a plethora of extant human rights literature attributes the emergence of the United Nations human rights regime to the past human rights abuses ( Waltz, 2001; Kabasakal, 2006 ).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and, such rights are interdependent, interrelated, indivisible, and universal.

In essence, human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death.

Unfortunately, however, there is an assumption that the inviolability of state sovereignty and the absence of central coercive power of the United Nations enforcement incentivise various governments to hide behind the international laws, and thereby increasing their repressive behaviours (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005).

Rene Cassin, one of the principal drafters of the universal declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, subsumed the main tenets of human rights by juxtaposing them with the portico of a temple.

Drawing on the battle cry of the French revolution, Cassin identified the four pillars of the declaration as: ‘dignity, liberty, equality, and brotherhood’ (Ishay 2004).

The 27 articles of the declaration were divided among these four pillars. The pillar underpinned the roof of the portico (articles 28–30), which stipulated the conditions in which the rights of individuals could be realized within society and the state.

The first pillar covered in the first two articles of the declaration stands for human dignity shared by all individuals regardless of their religion, creed, ethnicity, religion, or sex; the second, specified in articles 3–19 of the declaration, invokes the first generation of civil liberties and other liberal rights fought for during the Enlightenment; the third, detailed in articles 20–26, addresses the second generation of rights, i.e. those related to political, social and economic equity and championed during the industrial revolution; the fourth (articles 27–28) focuses on the third generation of rights associated with communal and national solidarity, as advocated during the late 19th century and early 20th century and throughout the postcolonial era (Ishay 2004).

Based on the preceding explication, we can draw an inference that human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death.

More significantly, human rights can never be taken away, although they can sometimes be restricted – for example, if a person breaks the law, or in the interests of national security.

In furtherance of strengthening the civil and personal integrity rights of all members of the human family, the United Nations General Assembly, duly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966, referring to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stresses that the “ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights” (UN 1948).

The prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has earlier been expressed severally and purposely in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN 1948) , Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN 1966), and the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from being subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (UN 1975), the United Nations nonetheless found it necessary to introduce the Convention Against Torture(CAT) in 1984.

The Torture Convention defines torture as: “the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions.”

The United Nations General Assembly, as detailed in Article 2 of the Convention against Torture, urges member states to take ‘effective legislative,administrative,judicial and other measures for the prevention of torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Parties to the Torture Convention, therefore, are obliged to take the due cognisance of the civil and personal integrity rights of every denizen and citizen in their territories.

The civil and personal integrity rights include, among other things, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly and association, the freedom of religious expression, the freedom from unlawful and political imprisonment, freedom from torture, freedom from unlawful physical or other harm, freedom from cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the right to a fair trial (UN 1966; UN 1984).

Suffice it to say, under the international human rights law (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN 1966), derogation is not permitted under any circumstances on Articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs I and II), 11, 15, 16 and 18.

This is because, the rights encapsulated in the preceding articles are non-derogable (cannot be suspended), Which include right to life, free from torture, free from slavery, unlawful arrest and detention, equal recognition everywhere before the law, and right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (UN 1966).

Basic human rights, so to speak, are based on values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and independence. But then again, human rights are not just abstract concepts – they are defined and protected by national and international laws.

K. Badu, UK.
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