When Thai security forces recently raided the offices of the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) in the country's insurgency-torn south, it may have been business-as-usual for a military with a checkered human rights record. But a report released last week by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) shows this is part of a disturbing global trend. The report (.pdf), "Assessing Damage, Urging Actions: Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Human Rights," argues that the Bush administration's post-9/11 "war paradigm" has led to a globalization of extraordinary legal measures which result in an unprecedented corrosive effect on international human rights law. The three-year global study -- carried out by an eight-member panel of jurists in 16 hearings around the world -- says the corresponding use of counterterrorist policies and the increased powers of intelligence agencies is subverting national criminal justice systems and undermining long-established legal principles. The panel concluded that "a major stock-taking exercise is needed at the international, regional and national levels to measure all counterterrorism measures against international human rights law," and described the present political climate "as a last chance for a concerted international effort to take remedial steps and restore long-standing international norms."
Thai Raid Shows Spread of Extra-Legal Measures
