About the Programme_
One of INTERIGHTS’ main areas of focus is the legal issues surrounding Security and the Rule of Law. Since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington there has been a worrying trend to view human rights as an obstacle to security, particularly security from terrorism. The threat of terrorism is used as a justification for the disregard of international human rights law; abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay are only the best known examples of a larger, and sadly, ever greater dilution of human rights standards.
Attempts to reinterpret and curtail fundamental rights, such as freedom from torture and the right to liberty, and to legalise abuses undermine the rule of law, and render necessary a coherent and urgent response. INTERIGHTS’ Security and Rule of Law Programme, together with its regional programmes on Africa, Europe, South Asia and the Commonwealth, attempts to counteract this increasing threat to human rights.
Announcements_
Human rights litigation and the ‘war on terror’Helen Duffy, Litigation Director at INTERIGHTS, has written an article for the International Review of the Red Cross, on the litigation that has unfolded in recent years in relation to issues such as arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extraordinary rendition, extraterritorial application of human rights norms and the creeping reach of the ‘terrorism ’ label.
Read more
European Court to consider complaint concerning death of former Chechen leader, Aslan MaskhadovINTERIGHTS, the legal representatives for the family of the former Chechen leader, Aslan Maskhadov, provided written details to the European Court of Human Rights of their complaint against Russia regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.
Read more
Litigation_
In April 2009 INTERIGHTS, jointly with six other organisations, submitted a third party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case which concerned the deaths of six Iraqi civilians in Basra in 2003 where the UK was an occupying power.
Read more
On 7 November 2007 INTERIGHTS and the International Commission of Jurists filed a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in a case concerning the 'extraordinary rendition' of six Algerians from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Guantanamo Bay.
Read more
Capacity Building and Standard Setting_
The Security and Rule of Law Programme hosted a meeting on 16 and 17 March 2007 which focused on particular practices which have come into sharp focus in the context of counter-terrorism and human rights, such as extra-legal rendition, disappearances and secret detention.
Read more
On 11 October 2007 INTERIGHTS' Legal Director gave a lecture at the London School of Economics exploring some of the key human rights challenges posed by the ‘War on Terror’ and the experience of resorting to the courts to address them.
Read more
