OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (OneWorld) - In the years following the ratification of the extremely controversial USA PATRIOT Act, other countries across the world have introduced equally contentious counter-terrorism statutes that have had serious implications on civil rights, say advocates.

Violent religious extremist groups have killed or injured over 1,700 people since 2000 in the Philippines alone, and the government of this island nation has failed to respond appropriately, a global human rights watchdog said this week.

The state has not taken adequate legal or punitive measures against those responsible, said Human Rights Watch, adding that a new anti-terror law "contains dangerous overbroad provisions that violate human rights standards and broaden the scope of government power to hold terrorism suspects indefinitely."

© Ellen RoggemannBefore the passage of the Human Security Act, which went into effect just over a week ago, the Philippines was the only country in the region that did not have any counter-terrorism legislation. An opposition political party -- and some Filipino bloggers -- have expressed concerns that the new law may be used to silence valid voices of dissent as the current government, in addition to the police and military, have poor human rights records.

Recent developments in El Salvador, where the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism was instituted in November 2006, hint at what may lay in store for Filipino citizens.

On July 2, though the right to protest is clearly upheld in El Salvador's constitution, 14 Salvadoran activists were arrested during protests against the administration's new "National Decentralization Policy," which many believe is an attempt to privatize the country's water resources. Since then, 13 of these men and women have been sentenced to "three months of preventative detention to allow the public prosecutor to gather more evidence to support the charges of acts of terrorism, public disorder, and illicit association."

El Salvador's counter-terrorism act was directly modeled on the USA PATRIOT Act, which greatly expanded U.S. law enforcement agencies' discretion, notably regarding intelligence gathering, the regulation of financial transactions, and the detaining and deporting of individuals suspected of terror-related activities. It elicited a tremendous outcry from U.S. citizens and civil rights advocates when it came into force in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the years since, its legacy has clearly spread far beyond the United States' borders.