How 9/11 Made the World Forget About Civil Rights

The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 were followed, both in the U.S. and Europe, by the introduction of drastic security measures. Several organizations that are in charge of protecting human rights warned that Americans and Europeans altogether have partially sacrificed civil rights in the process.

In the United States, these measurements were imposed rapidly even before October 2001 along with the “Patriot Act,” which temporary restricted civil rights. Among others, public libraries were forced to provide authorities with information about the subscribers and the books they were borrowing. The Internet was put under strict observation, those who traveled in the U.S. were thoroughly checked and the authorities were free to detain indefinitely people suspected of terrorism without actually charging them.

A few years after 9/11, the old continent had its share of suffering, as an effect of the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London. “We need a European cooperation that is as close as possible in order to prevent other attacks,” stated the minister for foreign affairs at that time, Joschka Fischer, quoted in Deutsche Welle.

Moreover, this security cooperation, an area previously belonging to member states, has been tighter and tighter, especially where data exchange is concerned.

The Europeans, just like the majority of the world, has adapted to all those security measures in airports. The discontent emerged when American authorities gained full access to personal data concerning Europeans traveling to the U.S., writes Deutsche Welle.

In effect, one result of hardening security laws is that, theoretically, those who use the Internet and mobile technology or even the banks’ clients can expect their personal information to be stored, even if just temporarily, with the purpose of being used at a later time by the authorities.

If the rights of the “innocent” were the ones harmed, the rights of those suspected of terrorism received a big hit, firstly by setting up the detention center in Guantanamo.

However, Swiss Deputy Dick Marty endeavored to show that European states played an important role in this chapter, especially through hosting centers in which suspects of terrorism were being interrogated. The CIA denied these accusations and so have the alleged host countries. Among them was Romania as well.