A major report into terrorist listing and conflict transformation was launched at an event at QMUL’s School of Law by the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI).
Titled 'Building Peace in Permanent War: Terrorist listing and conflict transformation' the event hosted a panel of experts who discussed how global counterterrorism laws impact on peace-builders and the potential for genuine transformation of conflicts.
The report combines legal and political analysis with in-depth case studies drawing on the testimony of diverse actors engaged in conflict transformation. The study focuses on the use of counterterrorism law and policy in the management of conflict with Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Hamas in the Occupied Palestinian territories, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey.
Speakers at the launch, which was chaired by Professor Penny Green, included Professor Michael Semple, Queen’s University Belfast, scholar and practitioner in conflict resolution in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Dr Véronique Dudouet, Director for the ‘Agents of change for inclusive conflict transformation’ programme Berghof Foundation; Dr Vicki Sentas, University of New South Wales and Gavin Sullivan, University of Amsterdam.
In the preface to the report Dr Véronique Dudouet writes: “National and international blacklisting regimes were allegedly introduced as legal instruments to prevent violent extremists from carrying out terrorist attacks and incentivise a behavioural change towards de-radicalisation. Instead, such regimes have been found to exacerbate conflicts by encouraging state repression of unarmed dissidents and thus fuelling radicalism.”
The report is a co-production of the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) and the Transnational Institute, and was financially supported by the Berghof Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
The full report can be viewed here: http://statecrime.org/data/2015/02/Building-Peace-in-Permanent-War-Feb-2015-for-circ.pdf
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