A/HRC/12/22 page 11 27. General comment No. 12 (1999) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to adequate food (art. 11) calls on States to “... refrain at all times from food embargoes or similar measures, which endanger conditions for food production and access to food in other countries. Food should never be used as an instrument of political and economic pressure”.22 Nor should it be used as a counter-terrorism measure. 28. General comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also notes that “States are under the obligation to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, including prisoners or detainees, minorities, asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants, to preventive, curative and palliative health services”.23 29. There is a need to make a clear distinction between immigration and migration laws and regulations, and security and counter-terrorism measures. It is neither correct nor desirable to consider all migration laws and policies as counter-terrorism legislation. However, it is clear that terrorism and security may be used as a trigger for States to take measures aimed at targeting ethnic minorities and migrants.24 Measures that targeted particular minorities, for example, took the form of invasive surveillance of a group, fingerprinting campaigns targeting a specific ethnic group, the adoption of decrees stating that a particular minority was a security threat, or the adoption of measures to facilitate their eviction. All of these measures have a serious impact on economic, social and cultural rights. 30. In addition, a number of specific human rights concerns may occur in the context of ensuring border security, linked to the treatment and screening of individuals when crossing an internationally recognized State border. 31. States are increasingly placing their immigration laws and policies at the centre of their counter-terrorism strategies. Terrorism and national security concerns have become a justification to tighten immigration and asylum regimes. There is a tendency to return asylum-seekers or repatriate refugees hastily without paying sufficient attention to their economic, social and cultural rights, with the risk that they may face persecution in their countries of origin. Such measures could have a disproportionate and discriminatory impact on asylum-seekers, refugees and immigrants and, more generally, non-citizens. 22 Paragraph 37. 23 Paragraph 34. 24 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the Covenant), paras. 10 (a), 16, 17, 22, 23, 30 and 40.