“Winning Without War: Nonmilitary Strategies for Overcoming Violent Extremism,” by David Cortright in Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems 21, No. 1 (Spring 2012).
“Friend, Not Foe: The Role of Civil Society in Preventing Violent Extremism” by David Cortright with Alistair Millar, Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf, George A. Lopez, Kristen Wall, Eliot Fackler, and Joshua Weaver, Notre Dame Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law 2 no. 2 (Spring 2012): 238-256.
Restrictive counterterrorism measures are having unintended negative effects on human rights defenders and civil society activists in many countries. This study traces the many harmful impacts of overly broad measures adopted in the name of fighting terrorism—from armed repression to restrictions on the ability of civil society groups to operate and receive funding.
To help inform the UN General Assembly’s review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Security Council’s comprehensive consideration of the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), this report details an independent strategic assessment of UN counterterrorism efforts over the two years since the Strategy and CTED were last reviewed.
Legal scholar Erika de Wet and sanctions expert David Cortright team up to analyze the core principles of international human rights law in relation to the procedures for the imposition of targeted sanctions by the UN Security Council and the European Union. They conclude that while UN and EU listing and delisting procedures have improved in recent years, they still fall short of guaranteeing fundamental legal rights.
It is widely assumed that concerns about due process rights in listing and delisting procedures have impeded compliance with targeted sanctions against Al-Qaida and the Taliban. While most governments regard UN sanctions as essential tools in the fight against global terrorism and consider them among the most important instruments available to the Security Council, a growing number of states are concerned about flaws in the listing and delisting process. This paper examines designation patterns in sanctions targeting to determine if due process concerns are impeding the willingness of states to implement these measures.
This paper examines various policy reform options to improve listing and delisting procedures. It begins by evaluating reform efforts to date, and the work of the Focal Point. This is followed by an examination of options for improving information gathering and sharing through greater utilization of the Monitoring Team and Focal Point. The paper concludes with a summary of recommendations.
This article, published in the African Security Review, begins with an overview of the terrorist threat and vulnerabilities in eastern Africa and the capacity of governments to respond. It then looks at the response at the subregional level and what has developed into the primary mechanism for fostering deeper subregional cooperation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Capacity Building Programme Against Terrorism, and how it may be improved. It also examines how the United Nations can help to strengthen that cooperation and the opportunity offered by the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
This paper highlights the importance of providing due process and respecting other fundamental human rights when countering terrorism and offers a set of recommendations for civil society organizations to consider in their efforts to support and sustain human rights as priority rather than postscript for measures to enhance security.
A report to Cordaid, this document considers civil society’s role in monitoring Security System Reform (SSR) and counterterrorism both in policy and in practice. It argues that civil society engagement, particularly with local actors, is central to ensuring proper civilian oversight and the overall effectiveness of both SSR and counterterrorism efforts and examines how efforts to engage civil society may be improved.
