Fighting the War Against Terrorism

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While fighting the war against terrorism, though it may be challenging, societies should place the utmost value upon human rights even if that means undermining one’s counter terrorism policy. Along with a terrorist attack comes prejudice and discrimination towards those of similar nationality or religion as the attackers out of fear of another attack. A challenge for liberal democracies such as Canada is creating an effective policy in order to constrain potential terrorist attacks that is also abiding one’s individual rights that come as a part of residing in a democratic society. Difficulty comes when one is suspected of terrorism and is detained without charge. Being held without charge, specifically in Canada, violates one’s right to not be arbitrarily detained. As well, one has the right to be informed of what they are being charged for, as well as being released if the detention is unlawful (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982). Within national policies, it is unclear if abiding ones individual rights outweighs the potential of a possible terrorist attack. There is a fine distinction between reasonable measures of terrorist prevention and discrimination of certain groups of people, and that fine line has yet to be democratically agreed upon. Not only is it a challenge in the ways which a state would approach the prevention of a potential terrorist attack, but also the concept of terrorism is an extremely difficult term to define universally.
Before the upsurge of counter terrorism measures after the bombings of 9/11, a 1984 New York Times article defined terrorism as attacks of a political nature that were not harming political figures themselves, but civilians that have no connection with political conflict of an...

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...(2006, Oct 25). Anti-terror law suffers new setback: Definition of terrorism violates charter: Judge. National Post. Retrieved from
Masilamani, L. (2013). Readings for political science 100. (2 ed., p. 67). Boston, MA: Pearson. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/docview/330657363?accountid=13800 Opoku, E. B. (2011). Human rights violations under the guise of counter-terrorism measures: A question of reconciling security concerns and protecting the fundamental right to life.
(Order No. MR77065, Queen's University (Canada)). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 142. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/docview/1008917223?accountid=13800
Rubin, A. P. (1984, Jul 28). A definition that fits terrorism anywhere. New York Times (1923-Current
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