EDITORIAL – Human Rights Day

The world marks Human Rights Day today amid questions on the methods used to fight terrorists in a deadly war. In his message marking the 57th year since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibited all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan observed that torture remains "unacceptably common."

Without singling out any country, Annan said the prohibition on torture was being disregarded in the name of national security. He acknowledged that the terror threat is "real and immediate," but pointed out that the threat could never justify adopting the methods of the terrorists. "Torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror."

His statement was issued as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was addressing concerns of NATO allies regarding the reported existence of secret prisons in Europe where torture is suspected to be employed by the US Central Intelligence Agency against terror suspects. It is not the first time that Washington has come under fire for violating human rights in fighting terrorists. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq and questions about the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo have cast a shadow on America’s war on terror.

It is not just the United States, however, that has been accused of disregarding human rights in fighting terrorists. Some of its staunchest allies in this war make no apologies about employing any means to neutralize the terror threat. Even Philippine authorities have often been accused of human rights violations in dealing with terror suspects. Filipinos sick of extremist violence simply shrug and look the other way.

Law enforcers will tell you that torture, in its mildest form that inflicts no physical harm, has its uses. But the use of torture has diminishing returns. Torture may help win some battles, but it will make it so much harder to win a complex war. A just cause is diminished by the use of unjust methods.