After the end of the Cold War, the attention of the international community shifted towards the promotion of the rule of law and the protection of human rights in the field of security. Later, the notion of human security appeared and challenged the dominance of the concept of state security in defining and guiding national security policies. These developments are clearly relevant to counter-terrorism policies and suggest some significantly different approaches to prevent the recruitment of individuals by violent-extremist organizations and the spread of terrorism. Concurrently, the globalization of the threat of terrorism has required responses at various levels, demanded greater international cooperation and forced multilateral organizations to mobilize themselves and attempt to define a basis upon which to collaborate in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism. The paper argues that a commitment to human rights and broad human security objectives is the most promising basis upon which to proceed in preventing the recruitment and radicalization of vulnerable segments of the population. It draws attention to recent initiatives to prevent prisons from becoming incubators of violent extremism and terrorism.