Amnesty International’s Security with Human Rights campaign seeks to end human rights violations in the context of terrorism, counter-terrorism and national security.

The campaign will expose governments that violate human rights in the name of national security

or countering terrorism, or use the threat of terrorism as a pretext to undermine human rights. We campaign for the rights of the victims of terrorism and other violence by armed groups.

Ending unlawful detentions

Many governments have responded to or exploited heightened concerns about terrorism in recent years by detaining people without the usual safeguards that are due to anyone deprived of their liberty.

Countering terrorism has been used as an excuse to hold people without allowing them access to a lawyer, without telling them why they have been detained and without telling their families where they are. In a number of countries, people have been held in secret places of detention. Some have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

The Security with Human Rights campaign will work to expose and end unlawful detention in the name of national security or countering terrorism.

Holding governments and individuals to account

Amnesty International demands that those responsible for human rights violations in the name national security or countering terrorism are held to account.

Following years of campaigning by Amnesty International and others, the truth about many human rights violations perpetrated in the context of the US-led “war on terror” and other abuses committed in the name of countering terrorism are now out in the open. While some governments have taken steps towards holding those responsible for abuses to account, many others have not.

The campaign will work to further expose the role of numerous governments in programmes of rendition and secret detention run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001. In the CIA programme people were detained in secret, transferred between countries, subjected to unlawful detention and sometimes tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Human rights violations in the name of countering terrorism and national security continue today, in countries around the world. As part of the Security with Human Rights campaign, Amnesty International will campaign for those responsible for such violations, past or present, to be held to account. This can mean calling for those responsible to be brought to trial, calling for a public inquiry, or both.  It also means ensuring that victims and their families receive redress for their suffering.

Campaigning for the rights of victims of terrorism and armed groups

Amnesty International will campaign for the rights of victims of terrorism and other violence by armed groups by:

• urging all armed groups to end attacks that target civilians or are indiscriminate
• demanding that governments thoroughly investigate all such attacks on civilians, and bring those responsible to justice
• building a campaign of solidarity and support, working with victims of such attacks to promote their rights

Read more

• The Security with Human Rights campaign brochure
• The issues covered by the campaign
• Learn about countries of focus