Report: A UN Ombudsperson on counter-terrorism
1st September 2022
Rights & Security International (RSI) is pleased to publish the result of its research on the role of Ombudsperson offices to advance human rights within the UN counter-terrorism framework. RSI highlights the relevance of the available normative framework and the importance of the Venice Principles for ensuring efficient, independent, fair, objective, and transparent Ombudsperson offices. This report is the result of extensive consultation with professionals working in various Ombudsperson offices at the national and regional levels, and civil society organisations from a selection of countries. The final recommendations of the report include, among others:
- Create an independent Human Rights Ombudsperson office on counter-terrorism to improve compliance with international human rights laws and standards across the various UN bodies engaged in counter-terrorism-related work.
- Provide discretionary powers to the Ombudsperson office to conduct investigations on its own initiative into the human rights impact of counter-terrorism policies, including on vulnerable communities and civil society.
- Promote a victim-centred approach in all the activities of the Ombudsperson office. In this context, “victim” includes not only survivors of attacks, but also victims of human rights violations stemming from harmful counter-terrorism or counter-extremism activities.
- Define clear pathways for affected individuals and communities to access the Ombudsperson office and include a power for the Ombudsperson to make country visits.
- Define clear policies and procedures that allow the Ombudsperson office to request cooperation from other institutions, review privileged information, and demand responses from member states and UN authorities.
This report goes along with RSI efforts at the UN CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism, which advocates for changes in the transnational counter-terrorism structure to ensure that its policies and approaches do not harm human rights and civil society.