On 9 May, 2024, at 15:00 – 16:30 CET the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) will host a joint Live Briefing to discuss the recently published Policy Brief, ‘Administrative Measures, Human Rights, and Democracy in Turbulent Times.’ Cyprien Fluzin, author of the Policy Brief and PhD candidate at the Geneva Graduate Institute, will discuss the topic together with Colin Clarke, Senior Research Centre at the Soufan Centre, moderated by Tanya Mehra, ICCT Senior Research Fellow and Lead of Rule of Law Responses to Terrorism Programme.
Changes in the terrorism landscape in Western nations over the past years requested necessary adaptations in counter-terrorism strategies. Some states have been tempted to implement more flexible and swiftly tools, such as administrative measures.
However, the current backdrop calls for renewed caution in the use of administrative measures and a dramatic strengthening of existing safeguards and protections against arbitrary or unlawful uses. Indeed, administrative measures may pose some known risks in combination with some new challenges. First, the broadening of the perceived terrorist threat, as it coincides with escalating social and political tensions in many democracies, contributes to obscuring the boundaries between activism, disorder, extremism (violent or not), and terrorism, increasing the risk of misuse as part of attempts to protect the public order. Second, the increasingly tense political climate displaying growing polarisation and escalating populist rhetoric raises additional risks of intentional abuse. Finally, it appears that the overreliance on administrative measures, even when prima facie compliant with the law, may also contribute to an erosion of some human rights and rule of law principles. In addition to causing harm to specific individuals or groups, the accumulation of these circumstances may also affect entire societies and undermine democracy altogether.
The event will delve into the main challenges posed by the use of administrative measures together with some authoritative speakers:
Moderator – Tanya Mehra, Programme Lead at the Rule of Law Responses to Terrorism Pillar at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
Speaker – Cyprien Fluzin, PhD candidate at the Geneva Graduate Institute, author of ‘Administrative Measures, Human Rights, and Democracy in Turbulent Times.’
Speaker- Colin P. Clarke, Associate Fellow, Current and Emerging Threats at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
