COUN-TER 2021
How will the international counterterrorism architecture evolve towards 2021 and in what way does it affect humanitarian action?
Legislation and military initiatives under the umbrella of the Global War on Terror have proliferated since its inception following the September 11 attacks. The expanded web of conventions, laws and institutions have created a complex and multi-layered system designed to prevent terrorist acts and minimize the impact of potential terror actors.
There are a plurality of approaches that are undertaken to mitigate the threat of terrorism including militarily, in covert actions and through the rule of law. Having a variety of different approaches allows governments to employ the most efficacious tactics in their fight to combat terrorism depending on the context but it also enables them to take advantage of the lack of transparency and at times, obfuscate international and human rights laws by employing a multitude of different approaches.
This phenomenon, termed substitution has added further complication to the counterterrorism system as the diversity of approaches that are enacted not only exists between states but within a single state’s response.
Overlapping legal frameworks at international, regional and national level create a highly intricate series of regulations and guidelines. In addition to counter-terror legislation emanating from a variety of sources there are also a plurality of enforcement mechanisms. Though this multi-stakeholder system has created a complex and sometimes uncoordinated approach to counterterrorism, the absence of an agreed definition of terrorism at international (and even national) level is foundational to the lack of coherence.
The definition of what constitutes terrorism is highly political and, is informed by the political and social conditions of the governments making the determination. Terrorism is a pejorative term whose definition has been adapted over centuries to reflect shifts in social and political dynamics to encompass a variety of concepts.
There are over one hundred legal definitions of terrorism and the diverse interpretation of the term has resulted in an inconsistent international legal structure. As a result of the variety in definitions of the term terrorism, and other interpretational liberties, an unconsidered appraisal of the rule of law on paper can overstate the level of harmonization in the approaches of states.
