This week the Counter-Terrorism Review Project is in Toronto for the Law and Society Association’s Annual Meeting. On Sunday, we will be presenting our preliminary research from the mapping phase of the project as part of a panel on Accountability for Counter-Terrorism. The panel is chaired by Professor Victor V Ramraj (University of Victoria) and includes the following papers: … Continue reading “Accountability for Counter-Terrorism”
Author: Fiona de Londras
Characteristics of Counter-Terrorism Review
Our work on mapping and understanding counter-terrorism review is continuing, and one of the significant elements of this is to articulate what the characteristics of counter-terrorism review might be. This is more than simply listing the forms it might take (such as executive, legislative, judicial, administrative, internal, or independent/external) or the ways in which it … Continue reading “Characteristics of Counter-Terrorism Review”
Why and how should we understand state secrecy?
Originally posted on the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly Blog Dr Lydia Morgan State secrecy is poorly understood. As citizens, not only do we not really understand the function of state secrecy, we also don’t understand its extent. But – and this is the interesting part – neither does government or political theorists. Are government secrets … Continue reading “Why and how should we understand state secrecy?”
The Prevent Oversight Board and Internal Review
One intriguing CTR mechanism is the Prevent Oversight Board. It is intriguing because very little information is publicly available about it. The Board is a Home Office Committee with broad responsibility for overseeing the implementation of Prevent in different sectors. As explained in our earlier post, Prevent is one of the four strands of the government’s … Continue reading “The Prevent Oversight Board and Internal Review”
Sunset Clauses
There are numerous ways that Parliament can engage in counter-terrorism review. Parliamentary committees, such as the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Home Affairs Select Committee, and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, can conduct inquiries into counter-terrorism policies and practices and produce reports on various features of the UK’s anti-terrorism laws. MPs … Continue reading “Sunset Clauses”
What is Counter-Terrorism Review?
The aim of this project is to map, critically engage with, and propose improvements to counter-terrorism review in the United Kingdom. The obvious starting point, however, is ‘what is counter-terrorism review?’ In this project we go beyond ‘judicial review’ of lawfulness, or juridical processes for challenging the application of powers in particular cases, in understanding … Continue reading “What is Counter-Terrorism Review?”
The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation
In undertaking our initial mapping exercise, we identified a number of institutions and actors that conduct counter-terrorism review in the UK. In the current phase of our research, we are gathering data about each of these counter-terrorism review bodies, to identify information such as the mandate of the institution or actor, their terms of reference, … Continue reading “The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation”
Mapping Counter-Terrorism Review
Following on from our last post, introducing how we mapped counter-terrorism in the UK, our analysis indicated we have good reason to suggest that counter-terrorism review involves multiple institutions and government actors in varied and potentially interacting and opaque ways. Counter-terrorism review can be automatic, as in required by statute periodically or by sunset clause; … Continue reading “Mapping Counter-Terrorism Review”
Mapping Counter-Terrorism in the UK
In order to assess counter-terrorism review in the UK, we first needed to map the extremely wide range of activities, institutions, actors, laws, and policies that fall under the umbrella term of ‘counter-terrorism’. This would allow us to identify the terrain on which we hoped to critically assess counter-terrorism review, as well as to identify … Continue reading “Mapping Counter-Terrorism in the UK”
Counter-Terrorism Review and Good Governance
Counter-terrorism is not only a national, but a global concern, with major initiatives being led at UN and EU level, as well of course as at national level. However, even though countering terrorism is a clear priority for states and the international community, and one on which significant amounts of money are spent on an … Continue reading “Counter-Terrorism Review and Good Governance”