20. As a general principle, the more severe the potential human rights violation, the greater the human rights scrutiny to be carried out by both decision-maker and court. Human rights standards require a targeted response. If a particular mischief is identified which needs to be addressed, for example incitement to religious violence, the control imposed by those human rights standards should mean that only that particular problem is addressed and others are not affected. 21. What the State considers to be in its best interests will not necessarily trump human rights. Policies to secure the State’s interests must be compatible with human rights. For example, in the context of counter terrorism, under extreme circumstances there may be a requirement to lawfully derogate from human rights standards. But, at the same time, this requirement for a targeted or proportionate response may mean that it is inappropriate to adopt counter terrorism or emergency measures and, in fact, the normal workings of the criminal law are suitable to respond to the particular issue. 22. State policy and practice will therefore only be effective when it has understood and integrated human rights within it. D. Implementing Human Rights 23. The guiding spirit of the application of human right standards is that their enjoyment is not limited to citizens of States parties. They are available to all individuals, regardless of nationality or statelessness, such as asylum seekers, refugees, migrant workers and other persons who find themselves in a State party’s territory or subject to its jurisdiction. 24. The procedural mechanisms that international human rights standards use to guarantee substantive rights are:     Legality The Rule of Law The Right to an Effective Remedy Non-Retrospectivity of Criminal Penalties 25. Each of these obligations is dependent upon the other and is mutually reenforcing. The right to an effective remedy and non- retrospective criminal penalties are specifically acknowledged within international human rights treaties, whereas principles of legality and the rule of law have been read into those treaties. The requirement of legality 26. The first obligation imposed by human rights standards is the requirement that any interference with human rights standards must have a clear legal basis. 27. There must be a legal basis in national law for an interference, and the law must be accessible and sufficiently precise. This requirement is intended to avoid the risk of arbitrariness on the part of the State. What this means is that: 26