Ten Years After 9/11: International Conference

The events of 11 September 2001 enabled western states to radically transform their counterterrorism practices.  This conference aims to critically engage with this transformation; to map how the ‘war on terror’ is changing and shaping new areas of our everyday lives and identify the challenges ahead for those fighting for human rights and social justice across the security field.

This conference  - co-organised by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Amnesty International – brings together leading human rights lawyers, experts and academics from around the world to address key questions related to emergent security practices, including:

• What has been achieved in the years of challenge and struggle since 9/11? Whilst some aspects of the ‘war on terror’ have been rendered spectacularly visible, other elements (such as the expansion of intelligence and the rise of pre-emptive security techniques) have remained largely unnoticed.  How can strategic litigation and political resistance be recalibrated to effectively challenge the powers that have been created?
• Whilst a great deal has been achieved through human rights advocacy over the last 10 years, much still needs to be done. European complicity in rendition and torture still remains largely uninvestigated.  Blacklisting regimes continue to proliferate in direct violation of fundamental rights.  Targeted killing techniques are rapidly expanding with no transparency as to who can be killed. How can we organise to overcome these problems and render these practices open to challenge and broader public debate?
• What does the security landscape for the next 10 years actually look like? Are liberal principles (such as the rule of law and fundamental rights) adequate to the task of challenging the illiberal practices of contemporary counterterrorism?

These are some of the questions and debates that this conference aims to foster and provoke, whilst giving shape to possible strategies that can we develop for the years ahead.  All are welcome to be part of the process moving forward.

The conference will be held in English and German with simultaneous translation into both languages. It is free to attend and will be streamed live on the Internet, with participants able to post questions to the speakers via the comment function of this site.

Programme:

9:00 Introduction

Wolfgang Grenz (Deputy Secretary General, Amnesty International Germany)

9:15 - 11:15 Spaces of Exception: Guantánamo, Rendition and Torture

Moderator: Wolfgang Kaleck (General Secretary, ECCHR)

Professor Manfred Nowak (Universität Wien, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture):
The illegality of the US torture program and the increasing use and reliance on torture evidence

Cori Crider (Reprieve, London):
The use of strategic litigation in Europe to achieve redress for Guantánamo detainees and victims of extraordinary rendition

Michael Ratner (President, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York):
Counterterrorism and executive power in the US and the prospects for accountability

Alice Wyss (Amnesty International, London):
Secrecy in legal proceedings in the UK

[coffee break]     

11:30 - 13:30 Blacklisting, Asset-freezing and the ‘war on terrorist financing’

Moderator: Gavin Sullivan (Solicitor and Program Manager, ECCHR)

Professor Amir Attaran (University of Ottawa):
The problems of the UN blacklisting regime, its crisis of legitimacy and possibilities for reform

Professor Marieke de Goede (University of Amsterdam):
Targeted sanctions and asset-freezing as pre-emptive security practice

Professor Bill Bowring (Birkbeck College, University of London):
EU Blacklists and the role of strategic litigation

Dr. Véronique Dudouet (Berghof Conflict Research, Berlin):
The impacts of the blacklisting regimes on conflict resolution and peace processes

[lunch break]

14:30 - 16:30 The expanding zone of combat: Drones and Targeted Killing

Moderator: Ben Hayes (ECCHR / Statewatch, London)

Sarah Knuckey (Director, Project on Extrajudicial Executions, New York University):
Targeted killing under international law – the legal complexities and challenges

Ben Wizner (American Civil Liberties Union, New York):
The targeted killing policies of the US, due process and the Al-Aulaqi legal challenge

Wolfgang Nešković (former Federal Court judge and current Member of Parliament):
The use of drones against German citizens and the opportunities for redress

Chris Rogers (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, Pakistan / Open Society Institute, New York):
The civilian impact of drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, strategic litigation and the prospects for accountability

[coffee break]  

17:00 - 18:30 Future scenarios and strategies for the next 10 years

Moderator: Hannes Honecker (Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein)

Dr. Louise Amoore (Durham University)
Pre-emption, the use of secret information and the challenges of post-9/11 techniques and technologies for law, evidence and justice

Professor Anastassia Tsoukala (University of Paris XI)
The changing nature of the European security and counterterrorism landscape in the post-9/11 era

Matthew Pollard (Amnesty International, International Secretariat, London)
The challenges facing human rights advocacy and the continuing possibilities for strategic litigation.

Heiner Busch (Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP / Grundrechtekomittee, Berlin):
Security, profiling and data control in Europe  

Location: Passionskirche, Marheinekeplatz 1, 10961 Berlin-Kreuzberg

Please RSVP (before 22 June 2011) at: tenyears@ecchr.eu