Abstract:
In the aftermath of 9/11 attacks many European governments have been dictated by a state-centric discourse on terrorism in which human rights have taken a backseat to state security. In doing so, civil liberties have been trade-off for the stake of state survival. In particular, European Muslims have fallen victim for these policies as they have been subject to repressive state practices, which are most often justified under the guise of war on terror. However, this sort of radical approaches usually hit hard back since the victim become more prone to take up radical thought, and thus become more willing to engage in terrorist activities, with the aim to take revenge. Consequently, on the long run this may aggregate the threat of terrorism even further, and thus may pose a greater threat to the survival of the state. Hence, the purpose of this study is to break free from a state- centric discourse on terrorism and move towards a human right framework in which terrorism and its responses are approached with all its consequences on state behavior, human security and state survival. This study focuses on the link between counter-terrorism measures and human rights violations, with a particular focus on the Dutch context. To be more precise, it examined to what extent the Dutch anti-terror policies infringes on civil liberties and points out the long-term effects on the social cohesion and the national security of the Netherlands. The study is based on a case-study in which qualitative research methods are used. In doing so, twelve peoples were interviewed by means of semi-structured questionnaire. The results have evidentiary shown that the Dutch counter-terrorism measures are at odd with the human rights of certain groups. In particular, the Dutch Muslim community seems to be hit the most ever since the political debates around terrorism are dictated by an anti-Islamic political discourse. In this way, terrorism have been equated with the Islam, and portrayed as a danger to the Dutch society. The securitization of the Islam has led to false security narratives, and paved way for extreme proposals to stop Islamification. Consequently, this opened door for the introduction of harsh measures. The Dutch media seems to play a prominent role in reinforcing the anti-Islam sentiment since it provides podium for extreme thoughts about the Islam. Especially, the right-wing extremist groups have exploited the anti-Islam sentiment to gain popular support. Although, since terrorism is seen as an Islamic problem other forms of radicalization have been overlooked. In this way, the government have provided the base for radicalization within own group. Consequently, this have led to a dichotomy between Muslim and non-Muslim groups, which have crashed the togetherness of the society and led to radicalization on both sides. This have resulted in a vicious circle in which terrorism has feed itself, and with that endangered the national security even further.
