War on Terrorism: Security vs. Civil Liberties

War on Terrorism: Security vs. Civil Liberties

Introduction

As part of its presidency of the "Big Eight" in 2006, United States announced the theme "Security" as a priority for discussion. The usual practice is debatable coverage by designated chairman of the country, not only within the state, but also in civil dialogue with the assistance of nonprofit organizations. In recent years the dangers and reality of terrorism have grown exponentially, and many countries are making a lot of effort in order to effectively solve this problem. State of the "Big Eight" is particularly concerned about the tendency to use national security for the emasculation of civil liberties and depriving citizens of their fundamental rights. It is therefore important to initiate a dialogue between those who are concerned about national security threat (by researchers, politicians, and members of the intelligence and military communities) and those involved in the protection of civil liberties and human rights (NGOs, lawyers, academics, heads of the media).

June 29, 2006 a small group of scientists, politicians, NGO leaders and human rights activists held a proactive discussion about various aspects of the relationship threats and civil rights. Experts thoroughly reviewed the definitions of such basic concepts as "terrorism" and "security", have tried to understand the relationship between social conditions in the strong and weak states and the rise of destructive social movements and to determine the importance of the rule of law in today's turbulent times. They discussed the concepts that are usually considered in terms of the traditional way of thinking, for example, how we perceive a "threat" to society, explored the potential and actual role of multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, and in fact the very "big eight" in the fight terrorism and promoting human rights. This is a very constructive conversation, which took place in the circle of experts representing different fields of activity, marked the beginning of a new fruitful debate.

November 16, 2006 in Berlin was the second expert meeting on the issue of human rights while countering terrorism. Among the participants were experts, researchers, government representatives from the U.S., Russia, Germany, and Great Britain. At the meeting, participants drafted proposals and examined the possibilities for making this initiative at a meeting of the "Big Eight" in Germany. This meeting allowed international experts from these countries to meet in order to professionally, thoroughly and constructively discuss this issue. Among the specific results can be noted agreement on general principles of construction of public policy in the future, for example, determine the level of the minimum guarantees of individual civil liberties that are the country's "big eight" undertake not to interfere in their activities aimed at combating terrorism. Imperceptible results should be regarded as the emergence of a constructive relationship between the participants of the event, which in normal circumstances, hold diametrically opposite points of view on this and other issues, as well as other mutually benefit, which is usually extracted from such a meaningful ...