28 Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights legislation risked replicating the serious human rights violations of the past and that the existing criminal law was sufficient to address new terrorist threats. In Kenya too, the Panel was told that counter-terrorist laws, supported by western governments, may reverse important safeguards. In Northern Ireland, concerns were expressed that new UK-wide anti-terrorism legislation might hurt the process of political normalisation underway. The Panel also received reports indicating that pressure from EU Member States on Turkey to make changes to its anti-terrorism law could reverse some of the country’s legal reforms over recent years.28 2.3 Past threats of terrorism were also very serious However substantial the current threat, past threats were far from negligible. For example, the Panel considered testimony relating to the dangerous, ruthless and brutal methods used by groups such as the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) in Algeria. From 1992 in Algeria, the GIA was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, often in large-scale massacres in which entire villages were destroyed. The organisation targeted anyone regarded as “collaborating” with the authorities, including teachers and other public employees. The Panel heard directly from representatives of victims’ organisations about the dramatic impact of terrorism on the country.29 The Panel also learnt of the horrors committed by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), thousands of miles away, during the internal armed conflict in Peru. Members of the Maoist group killed, tortured and “disappeared” thousands of innocent civilians, to intimidate the communities the group sought to control. Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission highlighted the tragic nature of these terrorist acts, which flagrantly violated international humanitarian law, as well as the very serious human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by the State. Of the estimated 69,280 persons who died between 1980-1992, 54% of them are attributed to Sendero Luminoso.30 Any suggestion that such experiences were less severe than the threat faced today is likely to sound hollow to the victims of terrorist violence and State repression in Algeria, Peru and many other countries around the world. 2.4 Past threats of terrorism were often long-lasting Much is made of the long-term nature of the contemporary terrorist threat: no one expects that this current threat will rapidly dissipate. It is therefore relevant to look at the implications of prolonged emergency situations in the past. Places such as 28 See Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin (hereinafter: Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Terrorism), Mission to Turkey, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/26/Add.2, 16 November 2006, para. 73. 29 See summary of the EJP North Africa Hearing with further references and oral testimony of Mohamed NedjemEddine Boujakdji on the perspective of terrorist victims in Algeria and the effects of impunity. 30 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Final Report, General Conclusions No. 2 and No. 13, August 2003, see http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/ifinal/conclusiones.php.