Beyond the Ottawa Principles: Social and Institutional Strategies and Counter-Terrorism

• Author: Victor V. Ramraj
• Pages: 371-384

Beyond the

Ottawa Principles

:

Social and Institutional Strategies

and Counter-Terrorism

Victor V. Ramraj

A. INTRODUCTION

Human rights, it is often said, are not only compatible with a counter-

terrorism strategy, they are also an essential part of an effective one.1

But however much we might try to reconcile national security impera-

tives with human rights principles, the complex relationship between

the two, and our efforts to make sense of it, have exposed deep cleav-

ages between realists and idealists. Idealists would stand f‌irmly behind

fundamental principles, clinging to lofty human rights aspirations even

in the face of a crisis; realists are prepared to bend those principles, so

as not to have them cast aside altogether, in the quest to be more effect-

ive in constraining state power if they make “realistic” demands. Any at-

tempt to articulate a set of principles governing counter-terrorism laws

must come to terms with the chasm between realism and idealism. The

Ottawa Principles2 are no exception.

1 See, for example, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Chief Justice of England

and Wales, “Terrorism and Human Rights” (Singapore Academy of Law Annual Lec-

ture 2006, 29 August 2006) at para. 90 (forthcoming publication in the Singapore

Academy of Law Journal; copy on f‌ile with author).

2 The Ottawa Principles on Anti-Terrorism and Human Rights, found at Part One of

this book [Ottawa Principles].

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