2010.05.11 Security on Mission: How to Survive a Kidnapping
Live Seminar 36: The Decade Since 9/11: Salient Trends and Their Implications for Humanitarian Protection
1. Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) Harvard University The Decade Since 9/11: Salient Trends and Their Implications for Humanitarian Protection September 15, 2011
2. Hosts The Decade Since 9/11: Salient Trends and Their Implications for Humanitarian Protection September 15, 2011 Live Web Seminar Ms. Naz Modirzadeh Associate Director Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University
3. The Decade Since 9/11: Salient Trends and Their Implications for Humanitarian Protection The 1990s witnessed considerable progress and development in terms of the role played by international law in humanitarian protection. The visibility, reach and relevance of international law — particularly international humanitarian law — enjoyed a resurgence with the end of the Cold War. The events of September 11, 2001 triggered a change in the international landscape. The trajectory of the humanitarian endeavor was affected by the legal and policy developments of the decade that followed. International humanitarian law became entwined with issues of national security, and grew to become a critical part of the professional vocabulary of various groups: the military, governments, international organizations, NGOs, civil society and the general public. With this increased attention came an opening for critical examination, which was populated quickly by vastly different perspectives. This live web seminar will introduce the salient trends that emerged from this critical space, and provide an opportunity to discuss their impact on both law and policy for humanitarian protection moving forward.
4. Panelists Fiona De Londras Lecturer, University College Dublin HinaShamsi Director, National Security Project, ACLU Gavin Sullivan European Security Cultures Project, University of Amsterdam; cooperating attorney, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights SamirElhawary Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute
5. Fiona de Londras is a lecturer at UCD School of Law where she teaches on terrorism and counter-terrorism. She is widely published in the area of the relationships and tensions between counter-terrorism, human rights and constitutionalism and her latest book— Detention in the ‘War on Terror’: Can Human Rights Fight Back? —was published by Cambridge University Press in July 2011.
6. “It’s war Jim, but not as we know it” The Legal Claim of the United States The (Different) Legal Claim of the United Kingdom The applicability of IHL The applicability of IHRL The modern manifestation of lex specialis International law’s response: IHL International law’s response: IHRL Has the ‘War on Terror’ undone international law? Fiona de Londras
7. HinaShamsiis is the Director of the ACLU's National Security Project. She has engaged in civil liberties and human rights litigation, research, and policy advocacy on issues including the freedoms of speech and association, torture, detention, and fair trial practices. Her work has included a focus on the intersection of national security and counterterrorism policies and international human rights and humanitarian law. She is the author and coauthor of publications on torture, targeted killing, extraordinary rendition, and privacy and surveillance, and has monitored and reported on the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay. She previously worked as a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project, and was the Acting Director of Human Rights First's Law & Security Program. Most recently, she served as Senior Advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions. Ms. Shamsi is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University School of Law.
9. Militarization of counter-terrorism Defining the struggle against terrorism in existential terms—as a “war” without geographical or temporal limits, against loosely defined terrorist entities and undefined “associated forces.” Two most concrete policies: indefinite military detention and lethal targeting of civilians far from any conventional battlefield or theater of war. Dynamic of political discourse: contrived “debate” over whether the threat of terrorism calls for a “military” or “law enforcement” response Real question is where to draw an appropriate line HinaShamsi
10. Breakdown of national consensus against racial and religious profiling Profiling now permitted as a factor in national security investigations Disproportionate impact on Muslim Americans, their community and membership organizations, and on Muslim charities The “radicalization” theory HinaShamsi
11. Expanded surveillance authority and entrenchment of a surveillance society Criminalization of speech/advocacy and humanitarian aid Material support prosecutions Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project HinaShamsi
14. European perspectives on the 10 years since 9/11 Introduction Challenging Executive power in the ‘war on terror’: four course issues (i) Indefinite detention without trial A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department[2004] UKHL 56 (ii) Data profiling S and Marper v United Kingdom (2008) ECHR 1581 Rasterfahndungcase (BVerfGE 115, 320) (iii) Terrorism blacklisting Joined Cases C-402/05 P & C-415/05 P, Kadi & Al Barakaat v. Council of the European Union, 3 C.M.L.R. 41 (2008). (iv) Human rights accountability during armed conflict Al-Skeini and Others v United Kingdom (Application No. 55721/07) Al-Jedda v United Kingdom (Application No. 27021/08) Dynamic of political discourse: contrived “debate” over whether the threat of terrorism calls for a “military” or “law enforcement” response Real question is where to draw an appropriate line Gavin Sullivan
15. European perspectives on the 10 years since 9/11, cont’d 3. Points of Convergence (i) Shared commitment towards pre-emptive security and the expansion of preventative administrative mechanisms (ii) Collapsing distinction between the US and the EU and distinct modes of security governance (iii) Shared lack of accountability for the worst excesses of the ‘war on terror’. Gavin Sullivan
16. Samir Elhawaryis a Research Fellow at the Humanitarian Policy Group of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). He is currently researching the evolving role of humanitarian action in conflict-affected emergencies, with a particular focus on the interface between humanitarianism and politics. He also works on land and displacement issues and prior to joining ODI, his work focused on the role of natural resources in armed conflict and was engaged in various initiatives to promote conflict sensitivity in the extractive industry.
17. The Decade Since 9/11: Salient Trends and Their Implications for Humanitarian ProtectionSamir ElhawaryResearch Fellow, Humanitarian Policy GroupSeptember 15th, 2011
18. Post 9/11 Trends: Stabilisation Post 9/11 concern with eliminating and containing threats Both a narrow security focused and transformative agenda Calls for ‘integrated’ and ‘comprehensive’ approaches
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21. Panelists Fiona De Londras Lecturer, University College Dublin HinaShamsi Director, National Security Project, ACLU Gavin Sullivan European Security Cultures Project, University of Amsterdam; cooperating attorney, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights SamirElhawary Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute
23. The Live Seminars on Humanitarian Law and Policy are produced by: Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) Harvard University Sponsored by: For more information on the Humanitarian Law and Policy Forum, please visit: http://ihlforum.ning.com or http://twitter.com/hpcr or contact: ihlforum@hpcr.org