Guidelines on human rights and fight against terrorism (2002)

In these unsettling times, terrorism, or the threat of it, is a problem which affects most countries in the world. The Council of Europe, which has a long history in developing measures to combat terrorism, believes that governments seeking to combat must find effective counter-measures, but at the same time not lose sight of the need to respect fundamental human rights. With this in mind, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has adopted on 11 July 2002these guidelines as recommendations both to member and non-member states. The guidelines reaffirm states' obligation to protect everyone against terrorism, and reiterate the need to avoid arbitrariness. They also stress that all measures taken by states to combat terrorism must be lawful, and that torture must be prohibited. The framework set out in the guidelines concerns, in particular, the collecting and processing of personal data, measures which interfere with privacy, arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention, legal proceedings, extradition and compensation of victims.