The importance of governments' staying within the law in the fight against international terrorism was stressed yesterday by a senior UN official in Dublin
Dr Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, was paying tribute to the late Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello at the Front Line conference of human rights defenders in Dublin yesterday.
He represented the UN in going to Baghdad to bring Mr de Mello's body home after the bomb blast in which he died.
"This tragedy must reinforce the UN Charter and must reinvigorate the Declaration," he said.
He told journalists that the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, was holding meetings this week on the future of the UN mission in Iraq.
"The continuity of the mission of the UN is a matter of principle, and the safety of UN staff is a top priority," he said.
He said it was impossible to underestimate what terrorist acts around the world were doing to the lives of innocent people.
However, in fighting such acts, governments must adhere to the principle of proportionality, where the response was proportionate to the act, and must also act within the law.
Certain actions, like torture, should always be ruled out, he said.
He said that the UN was compiling a digest of international jurisprudence in this area, drawn from the key human rights courts across the world.
"My job is to insist that international human rights laws are observed by all," he said.
He added that the United Nations was opposed to extra-judicial killings.