Monitoring human rights compliance of counter-terrorism measures: The role of NHRIs

About

To ensure respect for and protection of human rights in the context of national security and counter-terrorism measures, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) as independent human rights bodies can play an indispensable role. By conducting independent oversight of policies and measures taken by the government and its security sector, they can contribute to strengthening accountability and human rights compliance of the state. Some NHRIs already address challenges related to securitization’s impact on human rights in their work. Depending on their mandate and institutional structure, some NHRIs may focus on individual cases and even engage in litigation. Others work on monitoring or assessments of proposed counter-terrorism legislation, while many also concentrate their efforts on general recommendations, studies, and awareness-raising. The sharing of this experience, knowledge and resources would broadly benefit NHRIs across the OSCE region and increase their ability to address the expansion of counter-terrorism measures affecting human rights and democracy.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is therefore organizing a peer-learning workshop on the role of NHRIs in monitoring human rights compliance of counter-terrorism measures to facilitate experience exchange, discussions on best practices, challenges of NHRIs in addressing human rights issues in the counter-terrorism space as well as possible solutions and way forward.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this workshop are to: 

• Map trends in the expansion of the counter-terrorism space in the OSCE region impacting human rights and examine different aspects (for example, administrative measures, surveillance, use of new technologies, and other trends).
• Share challenges but also experiences and best practices among NHRI peers from across the OSCE region on these topics.
• Provide a forum for peer-learning and exchange on national practices and policies as well as actions undertaken by NHRIs.
• Brainstorm actions and ways NHRIs increase their capacity to be better able to monitor human rights compliance in the context of national counter-terrorism efforts.

Participants

The workshop will bring together experts in the area of human rights and counter-terrorism and around 15 representatives from selected NHRIs in the OSCE region, working on these topics within their NHRIs. The training is only open to already selected participants.

Contact

For more information about ODIHR’s work on NHRIs, please contact ODIHR Human Rights Adviser, Priska Anna Babuin at PriskaAnna.Babuin@odihr.pl.

For more information about ODIHR’s work on protecting human rights while countering terrorism, please contact ODIHR Associate Human Rights Officer, Maximilian Scheid at Maximilian.Scheid@odihr.pl.