A/HRC/12/22
page 16
B. Conditions conducive to terrorism
43. The Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy provides a list of conditions conducive to
terrorism, for instance: prolonged conflicts, occupation, subjugation, absence of democracy and
rule of law, poverty, violations of human rights, ethnic, national and religious discrimination,
political exclusion, socio-economic marginalization, inequality, insecurity and collective
punishment. Due to their inherent link with human dignity, cultural rights are particularly
important in this context.
44. Research into the conditions conducive to terrorism draws a distinction between the
following four categories of causes: (a) structural causes, e.g. demographic imbalances,
subjective feeling of deprivation, internal feeling of injustice; (b) facilitating causes, such as the
existence of failed States, access to weapons, explosives, the development of mass media and the
Internet; (c) motivational causes, including conflicts and deep-rooted historical injustices; and
(d) so-called triggering causes - events that ultimately push an individual to carry out a terrorist
act. Respect for human rights could be achieved by addressing all those categories effectively
and jointly.44
45. The reallocation of resources towards security and counter-terrorism can have additional
negative consequences when allocations are drawn away from programmes that contribute to the
implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, such as those in the health or education
sectors. The global emphasis on counter-terrorism has accelerated a trend among donor countries
and agencies towards incorporating security concerns into development policies. The policies of
some States of funding security activities with official development assistance has created some
controversy among development groups and civil society, which argue that they can have a
negative impact on available assistance, and thus the capacity of countries to realize economic,
social and cultural rights.
46. Identifying the conditions conducive to terrorism could help in formulating the measures to
counter them, without creating adverse effects on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural
rights. The conditions will depend on whether the movements carrying out acts of terrorism are
national movements, ethnic identity movements, minority religious movements or insurgency
movements. Examples of human rights violations in these contexts include the denial of access
to productive resources (including land), lack of recognition of cultural rights, which are
depriving entire groups of their identity and dignity, destruction of their homes and property,
lack of access to justice, impunity for human rights violations, and criminalization of the
activities of human rights defenders and others who seek to express their needs within a
democratic space.
44
Tore Bjorgo, Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality and Ways Forward (New York,
Routledge, 2005), p. 3.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents