Human Rights and Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism

The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy “recognize[s] that States may require assistance in developing and maintaining … effective and rule of law-based criminal justice systems, and [encourages] them to resort to the technical assistance delivered, inter alia, by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime”.

The Strategy also identifies “lack of the rule of law and violations of human rights” among the “conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism”, and emphasizes that “effective counter-terrorism measures and the protection of human rights are not conflicting goals, but complementary and mutually reinforcing”.

UNODC integrates human rights standards into all aspects of its counter-terrorism related legislative assistance and capacity-building work. We support Member States to ensure that domestic counter-terrorism measures are fully compliant with human rights standards and founded on the rule of law.