Rights violated under guise of counter-terrorism - U.N.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Some governments' broad counter-terrorism laws are punishing women and gays and suppressing groups pushing gender equality, a U.N. envoy of human rights and counter-terrorism said on Monday.

Many of these people are caught between being victims of extremist groups and victims of counter-terrorism measures, said Martin Scheinin, a U.N. special rapporteur on promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism.

"There's been a lot of progress in acknowledging terrorism can most effectively be fought with compliance with human rights, nevertheless there's still a lot to do," Scheinin, who is appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, told reporters.

Scheinin drew examples of gender-based rights violations stemming from counter-terrorism laws from previous reports.

He said in Algeria women had been arrested and accused of being extremists after they reported sexual violence by armed Islamists, while in Nepal transgender people attacked by insurgents were also targeted by police under the guise of counter-terrorism.

Palestinian women suffered because Israeli checkpoints delayed them reaching hospitals, said Scheinin.

Tightened immigration in many countries raised the possibility of asylum seekers, often women, being accused of providing "material support" to extremists when instead they were victims, he said.

"The breadth of Governments' counter-terrorism measures have resulted in significant gender-based human rights violations," he wrote in latest report to the United Nations.