UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change releases findings on terrorism

The High Level Panel in its report concludes that terrorism attacks the values that lie at the heart of the UN Charter, including human rights and the rule of law, but also highlights concerns that the “war on terrorism” has sometimes served to corrode those same values. The Panel advocates an approach to countering terrorism that addresses root causes and strengthens the rule of law and fundamental human rights by developing better instruments for counter-terrorism cooperation that respect civil liberties and human rights. While accentuating positive aspects of the Security Council’s present work on terrorism, the Panel expressed concern over the adverse human rights implications of placing of individuals and entities on terrorist lists and recommended that the Al-Qaida and Taiban Sanctions Committee institute a process for review of cases of those claming to have been wrongly included on such lists.