Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in North Africa

By James Cockayne, Jason Ipe, and Alistair Millar

Report — September 2010

This report provides an overview of the evolving terrorism threat in North Africa and analyzes how states in the subregion working with external partners, including the United Nations, European Union, and United States, can improve subregional counterterrorism-related cooperation. In particular, the report argues that because of its universal membership and distance from the politics of the region, the United Nations can play a unique role in catalyzing this cooperation.

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Human Rights Standards for Targeted Sanctions

By David Cortright and Erika de Wet

Report — January 2010

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.

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Towards Nuclear Zero

By David Cortright and Raimo Vayrynen

Book — 2010

This Adelphi study examines practical steps for achieving progress toward disarmament, assessing the challenges and opportunities associated with achieving a world without nuclear weapons. It places the current debate over abolition in the context of urgent non-proliferation priorities, such as the need to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of extremist regimes and terrorists. It distills lessons from states that have already given up nuclear programmes and from the end of the Cold War to suggest ways of countering the efforts of Iran and North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons. For the longer term, it offers policy recommendations for moving towards a reduced global reliance on nuclear weapons.

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Patterns of Implementation: Do Listing Practices Impede Compliance with UN Sanctions? A Critical Assessment

By David Cortright

Report — December 2009

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.

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Human Rights and Targeted Sanctions: An Action Agenda for Strengthening Due Process Procedures

By David Cortright, with George A. Lopez, Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf, Eliot Fackler, Sarah Persinger, and Joshua Weaver

Report — November 2009

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.

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Enhancing Counterterrorism Cooperation in Eastern Africa

By Eric Rosand, Alistair Millar, and Jason Ipe

Journal article — June 2009

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.

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Overdue Process: Protecting Human Rights while Sanctioning Alleged Terrorists

By George A. Lopez, David Cortright, Alistair Millar, and Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf

Report — April 2009

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.

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Oversight or Overlooked? Civil Society’s Role in Monitoring and Reforming Security Systems and the Practice of Counterterrorism

By Alistair Millar with David Cortright, Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf, and George A. Lopez

Report — March 2009

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.

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United Nations Sanctions and Nuclear Weapons

By George A. Lopez and David Cortright

Book chapter — 2009

“United Nations Sanctions and Nuclear Weapons” by George A. Lopez and David Cortright, in The United Nations and Nuclear Orders, edited by Jane Boulden, Ramesh Thakur, and Thomas Weiss (United Nations University Press, 2009) pp. 111-131.