UP Institute of Human Rights Opposition to Anti-Terrorism Bill
The UP Institute of Human Rights expresses its strong opposition to House Bill No. 6875 and Senate No. 1083, which, when signed, will be known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
Our statement:
The UP Institute of Human Rights expresses its strong opposition to House Bill No. 6875 and Senate Bill No. 1083, which, when signed, will be known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
The ambiguity of the proposed law’s definition of what constitutes terrorism creates a pretext for the commission of a host of human rights violations. Its failure to distinguish acts of terrorism from all other acts already punished under existing penal laws opens up an opportunity to overcharge persons and threatens the guarantee against double jeopardy.
Furthermore, the specific acts of terrorism and the accompanying acts that supposedly occur before or after its commission endangers the rights to life, liberty, and security of persons that are guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Our Constitutional rights are also at stake, as the acts of terrorism defined in the bill lack sufficient standards such that they could stifle the rights to free expression, to travel, and to be afforded full procedural and judicial guarantees as part of the rights of an accused.
We call on the President to veto the Anti-Terrorism Bill.
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