CCDH at the Regional Forum on the Promotion of Human Rights within the context of the Fight against Terrorism
Ms. Fetoum Koudama, a member of the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH), and Rapporteur of the CCDH Working Group on the Protection of Human Rights, represented the CCDH on October 27-29, 2008 at the Regional Forum on the Promotion of Human Rights in the context of the Fight against Terrorism, organized by the United Nations Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCHR), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in Amman, Jordan.The forum, which was attended by around sixty participants from 17 countries, is the third of its kind organized by the UNHCHR in order to promote human rights within the context of the fight against terrorism. The first two meetings, “human rights, fight against terrorism and states of alert” and “human rights and international cooperation in the fight against terrorism”, were held respectively in Switzerland (2005) and Lichtenstein (2006).
The forum addressed questions of treatment of suspects in terrorist acts: detention, legal safeguards and standards of fair trial; the question of deprivation of liberty of expression, belief and association; the issues relating to the impact of the fight against terrorism on economic and social rights. After three days of work, the participants reached at principles and recommendations for securing the commitments to fight against terrorism on the one hand, and to protect and respect human rights on the other. The guarantees to achieve this are bringing national legislation into compliance with international standards in the fight against terrorism and ensuring standards of respect of human rights at the same time.