Counterterrorism and Human Rights in Europe: Report by Amnesty International

The recently published report on counterterrorism and human rights by Julia Hall of Amnesty International aims to give a bird’s eye view of the national security landscape in Europe. It surveys the “securitization” of Europe since 2014, when UN Security Council Resolution 2178 was adopted, requiring states to pass laws to counter the threat of “foreign terrorist fighters”. Since then, a large number of counterterrorism measures have been proposed or implemented in most European states, including in the Netherlands.

Amnesty's analysis of those measures calls into question how governments balance security and personal rights in their counterterrorism approaches. Illustrative examples of human rights violations or concerns that appear throughout the report have been drawn from 14 EU member states and from counterterrorism initiatives at the UN, Council of Europe and EU levels. The countries profiled in various sections of the report are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK).

Ms. Hall presented the research findings and discussed Amnesty’s suggestions with relevant policy and legal officers from different Dutch Ministries working on counter terrorism, human rights, and European foreign affairs. This meeting was organized to provide a space for candid and open conversation to discuss how the research findings can contribute to designing better counter terrorism policies in Europe.