Assessing Damage, Urging Action • Human rights violations are often supposedly justified by the search for intelligence, and the need to prevent terrorist acts. Intelligence, sometimes unsubstantiated and in the absence of judicial control, provides grounds for detention, house arrest, deportation and other measures; • Even some of the countries which have not themselves engaged directly in serious human rights violations have been complacent about, or complicit in, violations committed by others; • A number of these practices – ill-treatment, extended detention, special judicial procedures and prosecutions based on unsubstantiated intelligence – have begun to seep into the normal functioning of the State, and its criminal justice system. Any such degeneration clearly poses potentially long-term consequences for the rule of law and respect for human rights; • Societies have suffered a range of negative consequences – restrictions on the media, limitations on freedom of speech and association, and the isolation or targeting of minority communities. Over time, there is a fear that the cumulative impact of counter-terrorist measures will undermine accountability and encourage impunity. The issues highlighted above emerged in many Hearings. What became increasingly apparent, as the Hearings progressed, was the extent of repetition, and the risk posed globally by many of the measures taken supposedly in the name of counterterrorism. Human rights violations arising from the struggle to counter terrorism should not, however, obscure the threat posed by terrorism itself. The Panel heard evidence at the Hearings, and in private discussions with senior government officials, in different parts of the world, to the effect that terrorism not only poses a serious threat, but that civilian populations suffer grievous human rights abuses at the hands of terrorists. The Panel heard from many victims of terrorism, and organisations representing them, and was left in no doubt that terrorism has caused dreadful loss and pain, instilled great fear, and continues to pose a serious current and future threat. Witnesses also frequently reminded the Panel of the positive duty on States to protect people in their jurisdiction against real and substantial threats from terrorism. There was no hesitation expressed about the need to counter terrorism effectively. The challenge is for States to find ways of protecting society that fully respect the human rights of all. The findings of the Panel The Panel studied the extensive material submitted: the oral and written evidence submitted to the Hearings; the information provided in private discussions with senior government officials; and desk-based research carried out by Panel members and the ICJ Secretariat. The information was carefully assessed by the panellists, 11