The Council of Europe (CoE) is preparing to amend its legal definition of terrorism, to largely replicate key elements of the European Union’s (EU) definition in its Counter-terrorism Directive 2017 (and previous Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism 2002). The proposed definition aims to make the CoE definition more comprehensive than the CoE’s existing Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism 2005, which limits terrorism to offences under “sectoral” counter-terrorism conventions. The CoE draft would reproduce the incompatibilities with international human rights law in the EU definition, despite the CoE priding itself on its founding mission to protect human rights in Europe. In October 2024, as Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism I sent a diplomatic communication to the CoE raising concerns, to which the CoE replied. The CoE’s draft is indeed based on proposals from (EU’s) European Commission, which were never made public, and is also intended to harmonize definitions across the two regional organizations with significant…
Terrorism
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Unfulfilled Promises of the ICJ Litigation for Ukraine: Analysis of the ICJ Judgment in Ukraine v Russia (CERD and ICSFT)
1. Summary and Context On 31 January 2024, the ICJ delivered its long-awaited Judgment on the merits in the case Ukraine v Russia concerning alleged violations of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (ICSFT) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). It was…
Iran’s Tryst With the Terrorism Exception and State Immunity
Introduction On June 27, 2023, Iran instituted proceedings against Canada before the International Court of Justice (“the Court/ICJ”), contending a violation of its jurisdictional immunity and immunity from measures of constraint. A detailed statement of the jurisdictional and substantive issues raised in the case can be found in a previous blog…
An Effective Form of Judicial Treatment of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Kosovo?
Introduction Following the defeat of Islamic State in 2018 in Syria, thousands of Europeans accused of fighting for ISIS remain detained in Kurdish jails in Syria, while women and children related to these fighters are also living in several camps nearby the Iraqi border. Due to the absence of adequate infrastructure, some ISIS fighters are imprisoned in schools…
Jurisdictional Immunities, all over Again?
ICJ proceedings instituted by Iran against Canada (27 June 2023): Some Observations on Jurisdiction and Merits Does State-backed terrorism enjoy State immunity from domestic jurisdiction or enforcement? This controversial question might finally be answered by the ICJ. Iran had already invoked its State immunities in Certain Iranian Assets, claiming that US court proceedings…
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