Relationship between Security and Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism: A Case of Introducing Body Scanners in Civil Aviation

Relationship between Security and Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism: A Case of Introducing Body Scanners in Civil Aviation

counter-terrorism

human security

human rights

balance

terrorism

civil aviation

body scanners

Changes in security environment after the end of Cold War and 9/11 have strongly affected our security concepts and paradigms. In the field of counter-terrorism, a serious conceptual and practical debate on the relationship between security and human rights and freedoms has begun. The goal of this paper is to reflect on this complex relationship at the conceptual level and introduce the empirical debate on this relationship in the field of civil aviation (case of introducing body scanners). The paper’s results show that the concept of human security usefully integrates the care for human rights and security of individuals. The debate on the potential introduction of body scanners on the European airports was actually a debate on the ways of providing individual human security on the airports with simultaneous concern for other human rights. The output of this debate was a compromise: body scanners can be used at the discretion of individual airports and member states, but are not an obligatory measure on all European airports.

Prezelj, Iztok

International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal; Vol. 17 No. 1 (2015): Varieties of Contemporary Radical Politics; 145-158

International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal; Tom 17 Nr 1 (2015): Varieties of Contemporary Radical Politics; 145-158

2300-8695

1641-4233

Lodz University Press

2015-12-30

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

application/pdf

eng

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion