I Book Review: Terrorism and the Limitation of Rights: The ECHR and the US Constitution
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411002800216 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Published date | 01 June 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Part C: DocumentationI Book Review |
I Book Reviews
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 28/2 (2010) 305
Because they a re, all things considered , bad for our conscience? Because we ca n only
stop cultural evolution – and humankind’s survival? – by no longer year ning to
leave the world to t he next generation as a bet ter place than the one we were born in
ourselves? And by stopping to act accordingly?
To cite once more Tomaševski’s words in this book: ‘[W]herever there is abuse,
there are a lways people who will e xpose it and try to right the wrong. Hum an rights
protection was built on their courage to speak truth to power.’ Children’s ri ghts
protection will be built on our courage to speak truth to ocials, parents, professionals
and a ll others who may be tempted to t ake advantage of their power or position at
the expense of the least powerful and most vulnerable: children. Or who may simply
ignore children’s (and families’) basic needs and be st interests.
To conclude – in his closing chapter, Hanson pleads for a n ongoing claric ation
of the concept and den ition of children’s rights (p. 645). Here, one c an only agree .
One of the many t hings we ca n learn f rom this bo ok, is that a great deal of – truly
– interdiscipli nary work sti ll needs to be done. Interdiscipl inary work to clarify the
principle of the best interests of t he child and its relation to attachment security,
early child hood and brain de velopment; the c oncepts of (traditional) patria rchy and
(modern) privacy, or parentiarchy, and the way the y frustrate both State i nvestments
and personal empowerment, inclusion and participation of men, women and children;
and the many complex issues surrounding intrafa milial socio-emot ional and socio-
economic deprivation and trans generational exclusion and discrimination – to name
just a few. Let us hope this book will be the rst one in a long and outstanding series
of proceedings of interdisciplina ry children’s rights conferences.
Stefan Sottiaux, Terrorism and the Limitation of R ights: e ECHR and the US
Constitution, Hart Publis hing, Oxford and Portland Oregon, 20 08, xxviii + 4 43 p.,
ISBN: 978–1–84113–763–6*1
Introduction
is impressive and hig hly releva nt book oers both a theoretica l account of the
paradoxical relationship between terrorism and human rights, and a comprehensive
comparative survey of the major decisions in this respect of the highest courts on both
sides of the Atla ntic, the European Cour t of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the United
States Supreme Court (SC). Stef an Sottiaux does not pretend that his work a ims to
contribute to the current debate by provid ing any new grand t heory on t he subject
of terrorism and the limitation of huma n rights. His purpose is ex pressly a more
modest one. Taking the view that States confronted with terrorism must nd a proper
* Réno Pijnen, PhD C andidate on Defense Rights a nd Separat ion of Powers in Cou nter-Terrorism
Targeted Financia l Sanctioning , Willem Pompe Institute of Criminal Law a nd Criminology ( WPI),
Utrecht University, Utrecht , the Netherlands.
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