Addressing the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon from a Human Rights Perspective

Foreign terrorist fighters raise security concerns with regard to their actions abroad but also their possible return to their home countries. This paper asks whether tough state responses and new powers such as detention and withdrawal of citizenship raise significant human rights issues. It looks firstly at the different types of rights in play before examining counter-terror legislation from countries such as UK, Australia and Canada. Discourses of the profiles of extremists can be reductionist, ignoring the complexity of the journeys in and out of violent extremism. Does imprisonment does have a deterrent effect? What is the impact on communities of rendering individuals stateless? How does legislation impact on freedom of speech? The paper looks at good practices in deradicalisation from different countries, before outlining three key propositions. First is a much wider public education forum which explains different types of rights and encourages dialogue about what rights take precedence in a security strategy. Second is the forging of long term partnerships with communities, to build trust rather than stigmatise; and third is a greater democratisation of security policy, using two-way information and learning, from sources such as former extremists as well as from the voices of youth.