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Human Rights and Terrorism (LAWS70091)
Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5Not available in 2017
About this subject
Overview
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Since 11 September 2001, there has been a universal trend towards new laws and new measures against terrorism. Also, international organisations, including the United Nations, have adopted new instruments against international terrorism, including conventions, protocols and resolutions. Many of the resulting counter-terrorism measures have an impact upon the enjoyment of human rights, sometimes within the scope of permissible limitations but often also resulting in clear human rights violations. This subject addresses the international law framework for countering terrorism and provides a stock-taking and assessment of the human rights implications.
Principal topics include:
- Terrorism and international law
- Do terrorists violate human rights, and can they be held accountable?
- Which human rights are affected by counter-terrorism measures by States and how they are affected
- Is the prohibition against torture absolute?
- Treatment, detention and trial of terrorism suspects
- Freedom of expression, association and assembly
- Terrorist listing and sanctions against individuals and entities
- ‘Profiling’ as a method to identify potential terrorists
- Refugee and immigration law in the era of terrorism
- The phenomenon of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ and legal responses to it
- The erosion of the right to privacy in the name of countering terrorism; surveillance
- Strategic approaches to preventing and combating terrorism
- Human rights after the ‘long decade’ since 9/11 of 2001
- A human rights assessment of the counter-terrorism measures of a particular country.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the international legal framework for countering terrorism and of its impact upon human rights, including of recent developments in this field of law and practice
- Be able to critically examine, analyse, interpret and assess the operation of this legal framework
- Be an engaged participant in debate regarding emerging and contemporary issues in the field, such as terrorist listings, terrorist profiling, the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, the use of surveillance in preventing terrorism, and the impact of counter-terrosim measures upon migration and asylum
- Have a sophisticated appreciation of the factors and processes driving the production of new international instruments to combat terrorism
- Have an advanced understanding of conducting a human rights impact analysis of counter-terrorism measures
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to counter-terrorism measures and their impact upon the enjoyment of all categories of human rights
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to independently examine, research and analyse existing and emerging legal issues relating to the human rights compatibility of international or national counter-terrorism measures
- Have the communication skills to clearly articulate and convey complex information regarding terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights to relevant specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Be able demonstrate autonomy, expert judgment and responsibility as a practitioner and learner in the field of the law of counter-terrorism and human rights.
Last updated: 3 November 2022