State terrorism severely impacts human rights, destabilises and undermines entire societies, jeopardises peace and security, and threatens social and economic development. As such, state terrorism attacks the sacred pillars of democracy and the rule of law upon which the respect of human rights is based. State terrorism has two aspects: internal and external. Internal aspect of terrorism means state’s terror against its own population, whereas external aspect of state terrorism implies terror against other States (mostly neighboring) in the international arena.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), like other international human rights instruments, can and should be strategically applied to allow States to take reasonable and proportionate action to defend democracy and the rule of law against the threat of terrorism.
State terrorism has become a mode of action used by adversaries who are uninhibited by the rules of conventional warfare and compensates for the insufficiency of their capabilities while achieving their vast political goals. If no negative consequences are imposed, some States and adversaries may be tempted to resort to terrorism.
The most harmful type of terrorism is the state terrorism, reflected primarily in the Geneva Declaration on Terrorism of 1987.
Russian authority is inflicting terroristic actions against its own citizens with a goal towards provoking a state of terror in its general public for political purposes. This terrorism includes serious violations of human rights.
These acts of state terror take place under the pretext of false allegations of counter-terrorism. Russia’s imposition of terroristic political control extends beyond physical harm to the individual victims to intimidate the audiences across the States and the world, thereby revealing the danger of state terrorism for European security.
The Parliamentary Assembly should turn its attention to developing ways to combat State terrorism.