Devastating impacts of 20 years of "War on Terror"
The death and suffering for civilians and indeed whole societies has extended far beyond the victims of the horrific attacks on New York on September 11, 2001.
The statistics are mind-boggling…
· More than 800,000 killed as a direct result of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) including 312,000 civilians [1]
· 37 million people have been displaced [2]
· 134 countries impacted or involved
These numbers don't count the destruction to vital infrastructure in nations that can least afford it. And nor do they account for the chaos and instability that has directly resulted in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
And what about the insidious impacts? Has this war made us safer?
And what price have we paid?
The GWOT has brought about hundreds of laws eroding civil liberties of all citizens. In Australia alone, 82 anti-terrorism laws have been enacted since the September 11 attacks [3], far exceeding the volume in the US, UK, and Canada. These laws give government and police extraordinary powers to surveil, intrude, detain, and censor.
The Muslim community has suffered from escalating and often deadly anti-Muslim hate as attacks by white supremacist mass murderers in NZ, Canada, and the US have tragically shown.
Institutionalised Islamophobia and the securitisation of Muslim identity have discriminated against Muslims and severely curtailed their basic rights including religious freedom.
We need to acknowledge the gross failures and devastating impacts of the Global War on Terror.
We need to hold government and security agencies to account.
We need to give justice to the victims whose rights, and in many cases, their lives, have been taken away under the guise of "national security".
We must work to reclaim a liberal democracy that is fair for all.
This is why the ICV is a proud partner in the International Witness Campaign (IWC) [4].
The ICV will be conducting a series of events over coming weeks and months including an online panel discussion on October 9 2021 featuring local and international experts.
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