Category: Europe

The EU Referendum and Women’s Voices

In the past week there has (finally) been some talk of the importance of ensuring that women’s voices are heard in the EU ‘Brexit’ referendum that will take place here in the UK on 23 June 2016. Not only is this vital because the debate has, thus far, been dominated by the voices of men (and particularly male politicians), but also because of the enormous impact that the EU has had and continues to have on women’s lives inside and outside of the Union. On this theme, this week’s Birmingham Brief (a weekly short briefing published by the University of Birmingham) is written by me and highlights some key points about EU membership and its benefits for women.The Brief is available here, and the conclusion reads:

It is incumbent upon all factions in the debates on the UK’s future in the EU to address the Union’s role in developing, applying and enforcing legal standards that promote gender equality. This requires a broadening of the debate and reflection on how EU membership has fundamentally impacted on the lives of women. Women’s voices must be central to the debate on the EU; women’s experiences must be accounted for in any argument that the UK should leave the EU; and plans for the continued protection of women’s rights at home and abroad must be articulated by those advocating a vote to leave the EU.

 

 

Online Now: Webinar on EU Counter-Terrorism

Last week I visited Oxford to present a live Oxford Human Rights Hub ‘webinar’ on counter-terrorism in the EU, including an analysis of the proposals for reform after the the Paris attacks of the past year. The webinar can be accessed online here (audio + slides).

The attacks in Paris in November 2015 resulted in a wave of counter-terrorism law and policy reform proposals at EU level. In the webinar, I outlined these reforms, placed them in the wider context of EU counter-terrorism, and critically engaged with them from a human rights perspective.

The webinar covered the following topics:

  • What was the state of EU counter-terrorism law and policy before the Paris Attacks?
  • What are the particular perceived security vulnerabilities in Europe and how do these justify the involvement of the EU?
  • What proposals have been advanced at EU level and what are their implications for human rights?
  • How do these EU-level proposals interact with international and national proposals and measures to counter terrorism?

Antwerp Lecture: Evaluation and Effectiveness of Counter-Terrorism

IMG_6632This week I am at the beautiful Universitair Centrum Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen (part of the Quad at night pictured left) for an excellent and challenging workshop on Socially Responsible Innovation in Security. I have been asked to present one of the four framing lectures, mine on evaluation and effectiveness. Although the lecture builds on findings and thoughts that began to develop during my FP7 project SECILE (results reports in this book from Routledge), it is not a typical ‘scientific’ lecture inasmuch as I do not focus on presenting concrete results. Rather, in this lecture I make an argument from principle on the importance of ex post facto effectiveness review and the inadequacy of ex ante impact assessments no matter how well designed. The full text of the lecture, which will be developed into a chapter for the Centre’s annual publication, is here. The introduction gives a flavour.

In the past 14 years there has been an enormous expansion of counter-terrorism laws and policies at national, regional and international levels. Spurred on by the events of 9/11 and, later, the phenomenon of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’, states and international institutions have introduced laws and policies that encroach greatly on fundamental freedoms and human rights (at times in ways that undermine the democratic process), and the international conception of the ‘rule of law’ has been ‘securitised’ to a striking degree. These measures include measures to permit, require, and fund technologically innovative approaches to counter-terrorism: surveillance, smart borders and so on. While these measures raise particular questions flowing from the technologies applied, this paper take a step back from the specifics of technology innovation in security to address a matter of structural, ethical and deliberative concern across the field of security: effectiveness.

Evaluation of whether counter-terrorist measures—including those using innovative technologies—are, in fact, effective is worryingly inadequate or, in many cases, simply non-existent. In this lecture, I will outline the expansion in counter-terrorism and its impact for human rights, democracy and the Rule of Law in order to argue that evaluation of effectiveness is key in maintaining the legitimacy of the counter-terrorist state and supra-state. Having done that, I will explore what the notion of ‘effectiveness’ means in this context, identifying both meta- and specific objectives as critical sites of analysis. Based on this, the paper will argue for the implementation of critical, reflexive and comprehensive ex post facto effectiveness evaluation of counter-terrorist measures and evaluation.

Human Rights in Collaboration: Launch Event & Getting Involved

CRsZdlCWIAAaWpDLast night I was very pleased to speak at the launch event for Human Rights in Collaboration, which was held in the beautiful Common Room at the Law Society in London. The event, entitled ‘Where are human rights headed?‘, was attended by almost one hundred delegates and featured short contributions from me (on terrorism and human rights), Nicole Bigby (on business and the human rights), and Stephen Grosz QC followed by a very involved Q&A session and discussion with the audience. The panel was excellently chaired by Jonathan Smithers, the President of the Law Society, and organised by Sarah Smith.

The event itself is the first in an ever-growing series of events across the country which aims to bring together academics, practitioners and civil society to discuss and debate human rights issues, often through unconventional means including poetry workshops. Human Rights in Collaboration will culminate with a closing panel, again in the Law Society, on December 10th when we will draw out and reflect on key questions and concerns that emerged across all of the events.

The programme of events was conceived and is coordinated by a small and informal committee of me, Nicole Bigby, Alison Klarfeld (BLP LLP), Sarah Smith (Law Society), and Rosa Freedman (Birmingham Law School). The website for the programme is here, and the events calendar is here (please note we are adding events all the time!).

If you are involved in an NGO, a member of a law school, or a legal professional of any kind who would like to organise an event to take place between now and December 10th do please get in touch!