The Inter-American System of Human Rights and Refugee protection: Post 11 September 2001

Abstract

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Commission) is right to declare that refugees and asylum seekers are amongst the most vulnerable to human rights violations in the development and execution of counter-terrorist measures. States have not only used their immigration laws to arrest, detain, question and deport non-nationals suspected of being involved in terrorism, but fear of terrorism has led states to declare a state of emergency and derogate from human rights treaties, enabling them to detain non-nationals in a manner that would normally breach their human rights.