Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism

Purpose of the mandate

As incidents of terrorism continue the misuse of legislation and policies to combat terrorism have grown with an adverse impact on human rights and fundamental freedoms. This mandate was created to:

• Promote and ensure the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms by recommending rights-compliant counter-terrorism legislation and policies;
• Offer support, technical assistance, and expertise to States, UN entities, civil society and other relevant stakeholders; and
• Be responsive to the shifting landscape of counter-terrorism and anticipating long-term needs and strategies.

About the mandate

In April 2005, the Commission on Human Rights, in resolution 2005/80, created a mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Subsequently, the mandate was extended by the Human Rights Council multiple times, most recently on 12 April 2022, for a further period of three years through resolution 49/10.

Current mandate holder

Since 1 August 2017, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin has been the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. She is a University Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota; holder of the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society; and faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is concurrently a professor of law at the Queen’s University of Belfast, School of Law. Her teaching and research interests are in the fields of international law, human rights law, national security law, transitional justice, and feminist legal theory

Read Ms. Ní Aoláin’s full biography