injury to a person, although that was not its purpose, in contravention of the right to freedom of expression in Article 19 of the ICCPR. 4. The failure to limit the search powers contained in the Suppression of Terrorism Decree and the Intelligence Service Decree to persons over the age of 18 is not in accordance with the ‘best interests of the child’ principle contained in the Article 3 of the CRC. 5. Any detention in respect of anti-terrorism measures should not be arbitrary as the term has been defined in relation to the prohibition contained in the ICCPR and which is likely to have become a principle of customary international law to which all States are bound. 6. Counter-terrorism measures should be promulgated by parliamentary legislation, which allows scope for public participation, rather than by Executive decrees which have the potential to abridge human rights. The Suppression of Terrorism Decree and the Intelligence Service Decree should be recast and re-submitted to Parliament for democratic consideration. India India has ratified the ICCPR179 but has neither signed nor ratified the First or Second Optional Protocols (to the ICCPR). India has acceded to the CRC180 and has ratified the CERD.181 India has signed (14 October 1997), but not ratified, the Convention on Torture (CAT). India has neither signed nor ratified the Refugee Convention. All the twelve Conventions on Terrorism have been ratified by India. As one of the SAARC countries India has signed the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism on 4 November 1987. On 25 March 2002 India passed a new anti-terrorism law – the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). This law reinstated a somewhat less-stringent version of the previous law on the subject - Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1987 (TADA). Under the latter 179 180 On 10 April 1979. Date of Entry 11 January 1993. 91