Human Rights and International Governance

Last week was a bad week for human rights in the War on Terror. At the beginning of the week Michael Mukasey, who during Senate confirmation hearings had indicated that he was unsure if waterboarding – an interrogation technique in which prisoners are made to believe they are drowning – constituted torture, was sworn in as the new Attorney General. Later in the week, the Globe and Mail reported that there were thousands of pages of documents that had recently been released by court order revealing that the Canadian government was well aware – for months – that Afghan prisoners captured by Canadian military forces and transferred to Afghan security officials were being tortured and held in deplorable prison conditions. The two events are, of course, unrelated…at least directly.

     The optics of both of these affairs suggest – once again – that governments in the U.S. and Canada are condoning abusive interrogation techniques. As several commentators have already noted, this is a short-sighted strategy. Quite simply, torture is both unreliable and morally indefensible for a modern, civilized society. It is also extremely counter-productive. The War on Terror is about more than neutralizing terrorist organizations: it is a war of ideas, a war against extremism. Tolerating and even making allowances for torture and other abusive practices sends the message that we don't really believe what we say about human rights, and does nothing to win the hearts and minds of the people whose countries are currently being invaded.

     If the West is to win the War on Terror, it will have to hold itself up to higher standards. This means adhering to a system of rule of law and due process. This means prohibiting the use of abusive interrogative practices, and punishing those who engage in such practices. This means recognizing that even the enemy has human rights that must be respected. If it fails on any of these three counts, particularly the last one, then any remaining hope that this might be a short-lived war will be dashed.

The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author only, and do not represent the views of any organization or institution with which he is affiliated.