[Conference] Lessons from the past, dilemmas of the present and challenges for the future: What is an 'effective CT strategy?

About the event

In the aftermath of events such as 9/11 (US), 7/7 (UK), 13/11 (Paris) and similar others, states have persistently sought to adapt their counter-terrorism toolkit to the, perceived as unprecedented, threat of terrorism. Domestically, certain European states have engaged in what has been regularly described as counter-terrorism ‘legislative fever’. Simultaneously, counter-terrorism and security strategies were fervently updated to respond more effectively to the threat of terrorism – both domestically and at the regional level. The swiftness in adopting and/or updating counter-terrorism measures and strategies has, however, left limited time to engage in reflection and evaluation of what makes a counter-terrorism measure or strategy effective.

On 16 and 17 May 2019, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT – The Hague) with the support of the T.M.C. Asser Institute intends to engage in such critical examination in a conference on ‘Lessons from the Past, Dilemmas of the Present and Challenges for the Future: What is an ‘Effective’ Counter-Terrorism Strategy?’. The idea behind the event and the individual sessions is to reflect on various aspects of domestic and regional counter-terrorism policies, what lessons we can learn from them going forward and the bad practices to avoid for the present and future. Each individual session will feature 3 speakers and allow time for interactive discussions. Speakers from multi-disciplinary backgrounds will reflect on the following pressing issues:

•         Countering Extremism: Freedom of Speech vs. Incitement to Terrorism (regional ECHR and EU obligations);
•         The Use of Immigration Powers such as Deprivation of Nationality in Counter-Terrorism;
•         Lessons to be learnt from ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and the US War on Terror;
•         The Importance of Databases and Quantitative Methods in Counter-Terrorism
•         Identifying and Distinguishing between Radicalisation and Extremism;
•         Countering the Enduring Issues in the Study of Terrorism;
•         The Role of Communities and NGOs in CT and CVE;
•         Combatting Extreme and Radical Narratives Online.

The Opening Keynote on ‘What is Terrorism? What is Extremism? – Lessons from the Past’ will be provided by Professor Isabelle Duyvesteyn (Leiden University).The Closing Keynote will be provided by Renske van der Veer, Director of the International Centre of Counter-Terrorism (ICCT-The Hague).

Confirmed panel speakers include:  

• Professor Emeritus Tom Hadden (Queen’s University Belfast)
• Professor Helen Duffy (Leiden University)
• Dr Bart Schuurman (Leiden University / ICCT – The Hague)
• Dr Devyani Prabhat (Bristol University)
• Dr Laura van Waas (Tilburg University / Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion)
• Dr Marloes van Noorloos (Tilberg University)
• Dr Rumyana van Ark (Asser Institute / ICCT – The Hague)
• Claire van Dyck (De Limberger / co-author of “Sultan en De Lokroep van de Jihad”)
• Tehmina Kazi (Restorative Justice Officer, Why me? Charity)
• Tanya Mehra, LLM (ICCT – The Hague)
• Faisal Khan, LLM (ICCT – The Hague)
• Reinier Bergema (ICCT – The Hague)

The conference is fully booked. If you would like to join, please send an email to conferencemanager@asser.nl with your motivation and your professional connection to counter terrorism. If there are cancellations, our event manager will contact you.

If you are a PhD candidate, a student, a national and international expert, a member of the security services, a policy maker or a practitioner currently working in the field of counter-terrorism or aiming to, this conference is an excellent opportunity to engage comprehensively and interactively with the ever-evolving field of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism.