Workshop: The Consideration of Rights in the Development of National Security Policy

Human rights discourse usually focuses on the role of courts, and on after-the-fact judicial review of existing government policies. Much less attention is paid to the question of how the other branches of government – the legislature and the executive - fulfill their obligations to respect human rights in the creation of policy to begin with.

The workshop sought to shine a spotlight on the role of rights considerations in the policy process itself, in an area raising significant rights dilemmas: the field of counter-terrorism. It took place against the backdrop of a research group (part of IDI’s Proportionality in Public Policy Program), focusing on the way human rights considerations were taken into account in the formulation of counter-terrorism policies and laws in three different jurisdictions: the 2017 EU Directive on Combating Terrorism; the German Counter-Terrorism Database Act and Data Retention Act; and the 2016 Israeli Counter-Terrorism Act.

 

The first part of the day was devoted to small-group discussion of the project’s works-in-progress and of some of the broader theoretical questions they raise. The second part included a roundtable with policy makers and civil society representatives, providing an opportunity to discuss some of the practical dilemmas faced by decision-makers and other stakeholders, and consider possibilities for interventions that may better integrate rights as a consideration in the process.

The Proportionality in Public Policy Program is supported by a grant from The European Research Council.

Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, IDI Vice President, Research
Dr. Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan, Co-Director, IDI Proportionality
Prof. Dr. Clemens Arzt, Berlin School of Economics and Law; Dr. Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov, Bar Ilan University; Prof. Claude Berrebi, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Amichai Cohen, The Israel Democracy Institute and Ono Academic College; Prof. Fiona De Londras, University of Birmingham; Dr. Andrej Lang, University of Halle-Wittenberg; Dr. Doreen Lustig, Tel Aviv University; Adv. Lila Margalit, The Israel Democracy Institute; Prof. Barak Medina, The Israel Democracy Institute and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Yaniv Roznai, IDC Herzliya; Prof. Yuval Shany, The Israel Democracy Institute and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Adv. Talya Steiner, The Israel Democracy Institute.