Torture, Mass Surveillance, and Discrimination: Protecting Human Rights in the “War on Terror”

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. and other countries have frequently invoked national security concerns as a justification for policies and practices that violate human rights. The U.S. has tortured and indefinitely detained inmates at Guantánamo Bay with no plans to close the military prison. Mass electronic surveillance, travel bans, and terrorist watch-lists have indiscriminately targeted black and brown communities, and Muslim, Arab, South Asian and Middle Eastern communities in particular. And the International Criminal Court is now pursuing a full investigation for possible war crimes committed over the course of the armed conflict in Afghanistan, including by U.S. officials for the use of torture.

Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program and Adjunct Professor in the Human Rights Program at Roosevelt House, will be in conversation with Leonard Feldman, Associate Professor of Political Science at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, about the human rights implications of such measures; the role of human rights bodies and mechanisms in protecting against rights violations; and what it would take for the U.S. to pursue effective counterterrorism policies that also respect human rights.