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16 Minn. J. Int'l L. 353 (2007)
Human Rights Protection during the War on Terror: Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

handle is hein.journals/mjgt16 and id is 365 raw text is: Cite as: 16 MINN. J. INT'L L. 353 Human Rights Protection during the War on Terror: Two Steps Back, One Step Forward Shane Darcy* The aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001 has seen a concerted and sustained rolling-back of many of the fundamental human rights guarantees protected by international law. In the name of security, several States have engaged in practices such as torture, indefinite detention, disappearance and the denial of fair trial rights. The rules of international humanitarian law have also been violated, with some of the central protections denied to persons designated as unlawful combatants. It has also been claimed that some contemporary legal norms are a hindrance to the pursuit of the war on terror. John Reid, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defense, has openly questioned the adequacy of international law to deal with the contemporary threat from international terrorists, specifically identifying the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols as part of an international framework which he perceives as not having adapted to changing circumstances.' Since September 11th, there has been an assault on both the human rights of individual persons and on the corpus of laws that seeks to protect those rights. Lecturer, Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster. 1. John Reid, MP, Sec'y of State for Def., Address at the Royal United Services Inst. for Def. & Sec. Studies, 20th-Century Rules, 21st-Century Conflict (Apr. 06, 2006), http://www.mod.uk/Defencelnternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness /ReidAddressesRusiOn20thcenturyRules2lstcenturyConflict.htm (last visited Feb. 11, 2007). See also Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Press Conference (Aug. 5, 2005), http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page804l.asp (stating that the rules of the game are changing with regard to measures to be taken in the fight against terrorism) (last visited Feb. 11, 2007).

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