• E4J University Module Series: Counter-Terrorism

• Module 15: Contemporary Issues of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
  

• Introduction and Learning Outcomes

• Key Issues

• • Topic 1. Contemporary issues relating to conditions conducive both to the spread of terrorism and the rule of law
    
  • Topic 2. Contemporary issues relating to the right to life
    
  • Topic 3. Contemporary issues relating to foreign terrorist fighters
    
  • Topic 4. Contemporary issues relating to non-discrimination and fundamental freedoms

• Exercises and Case Studies

• Possible Class Structure

• Core Reading

• Advanced Reading

• Student Assessment

• Additional Teaching Tools

• References

 

Published in May 2021.

 

 

  This module is a resource for lecturers  

 

References

 

Books

• Eager, Paige W. (2016). From Freedom to Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Gentry, Caron E. and Sjoberg, Laura (2015). Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about Women’s Violence in Global Politics. Zed Books.
• Goldstein, Joshua S. (2001). War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Gunaratna, Rohan (2002). Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.New York: Columbia University Press.
• Lazaridis, Gabriella et al. eds (2016). The Rise of the Far Right in Europe. Palgrave MacMillan.
• Liebmann, Marian (2007). Restorative Justice. London: Jessica Kingsley.Lombardi, M. et al. eds. (2015). Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terorism. Clifton, VA, IOS Press.
• Melzer, Nils (2008). Targeted Killing in International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Shaw, Ian. (2016). Predator Empire: Drone Warfare and Full Spectrum Dominance. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Sjoberg, Laura and Gentry, Caron E. (2011). Women, Gender, and Terrorism. University of Georgia Press.

Book Chapters

• Shelley, Louise I. (2014). “Corruption and Youths Recruitment into Violent Extremism.” In Marco Lombardi, Eman Ragab, Vivienne Chin, Yvon Dandurand, Valerio de Divitiis and Alessandro Burato, eds. Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism among Young to Prevent Terrorism. Amsterdam: IOS Press BV.
• Speckhard, Anne and Akhmedova, Khapta (2006). “Black Widows: The Chechen Female Suicide Terrorists.” In Yoram Schweitzer ed. Female Suicide Bombers: Dying for Equality, Memorandum No. 84, August, pp. 63-80.

Cases

• European Commission on Human Rights
  • Purcell and Others v. Ireland (Application No. 15404/89), Judgment of 16 April 1991.
  • Case of McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom (Application No. 18984/91), Judgment of 27 September 1995.
  • Case of Leroy v. France (Application no. 36109/03), Judgment of 2 October 2008.

Conventions, Treaties and Statutes

• European Convention on Human Rights. 4 November 1950.
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 16 December 1966. Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171, and vol. 1057, p. 407.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 16 December 1966. Treaty Series, vol. 993, p.3.

Journal / Online Articles

• Advocates for Youth. “The Development of the Global Youth Agenda.”
• Alexander, Erin (2014). “Women of War: The Female Fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.” Cornell International Affairs Review, vol. 7, issue 2, pp. 1-21.
• Beehner, Lionel (2007). “The Effects of 'Youth Bulge' on Civil Conflicts.” Council on Foreign Relations, 13 April.
• Benmelech, Efraim and Klor, Esteban F. (2018). “Military Sexual Assault
• Benmelech, Efraim and Klor, Esteban (2018). “What Explains the Flow of Foreign Fighters to ISIS?.” Terrorism and Political Violence.  
• Bhatia, Vandana and W. Andy Knight (2013). “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia: Comparing the Tamil Separatists and Kashmir Insurgents.” South Asian Survey, vol. 18, issue 1, pp. 7-26.
• Bhulai, Rafia and Nemr, Christina (2016). “From Policy to Action: Advancing an Integrated Approach to Women and Countering Violent Extremism.” Global Center on Cooperative Security, June.
• Brown, Katherine E. and Saeed, Tania (2014), “Radicalization and counter-radicalization at British universities: Muslim encounters and alternatives.” 30 May, pp. 1952-1968.
• Chachko, Elena and Deeks, Ashley (2016). “Which States Support the 'Unwilling and Unable' Test?”. Lawfare. 10 October.
• Downey, Greg (2015). “Scott Atran on Youth, Violent Extremism and Promoting Peace.” PLOS BLOGS, ARTIS Research and Risk Modeling. 25 April.
• Gubrud, Mark (2015). “Semi-autonomous and on their own: Killer robots in Plato’s Cave.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 12 April.
• Hoyle, Carolyn, Bradford, Alexandra and Frenett, Ross (2015). “Becoming Mulan? Female Western Migrants to ISIS.” Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
• Huckerby, Jayne (2012). “Women and Preventing Violent Extremism: The U.S. and U.K. Experiences.” Center for Human Rights and Global Justice Briefing Paper.
• Ifemeje, Sylvia, Boniface Ewulum and Chineze Ibekwe (2015). “Gender Based Violence Dimension of Terrorism in Nigeria: A Critique.” Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, vol. 34.
• ITV News (2017). “Internet giants told to remove terror propaganda within two hours or face fines.” ITV Report. 20 September.
• Johnston, Patrick (2012). “Does Decapitation Work? Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Targeting in Counterinsurgency Campaigns.” International Security 36(4):47-79. Jordan, Jenna (2009). “When Heads Roll: Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Decapitation.” Security Studies, vol. 18, issue 4, pp. 719-755.
• Jordan, Jenna (2014). “Attacking the Leader, Missing the Mark: Why Terrorist Groups Survive Decapitation Strikes.” International Security, vol. 38, issue 4, pp. 7-38.
• Jordan, Jenna (2014). “Dying to Kill: Motivations".
• Kanno-Youngs, Zolan (2019). “Homeland Security Dept. Affirms Threat of White Supremacy After Years of Prodding.” The New York Times, 1 October.
• Khan, Stephen, Rory McCarthy, and Luke Harding (2009). “Female suicide bombers: Tamil Tiger teenage girl led the way.” The Guardian, 11 June.
• Land, Molly (2017). “The UK’s plan to deny terrorists ‘safe spaces’ online would make us all less safe in the long run.” The Conversation. 15 June.
• Lord, Kristin (2016). “Here Come the Young.” Foreign Policy, 12 August.
• Meagher, Kate (2015). “Leaving no-one behind? Informal economics, economic inclusion and Islamic extremism in Nigeria.” Journal of International Development, vol. 27, issue 6, pp. 835-855.
• Muslim Public Affairs Council. “Safe Spaces: An Updated Toolkit or Empowering Communities and Addressing Ideological Violence.”
• Nordas, Ragnhild, Davenport, Christian (2013). “Fight the Youth: Youth Bulges and State Repression.” American Journal of Political Science 57(4).
• Patel, Faiza (2019). “EU 'Terrorist Content' Proposal Sets Dire Example for Free Speech Online.” Just Security, 5 March.
• Pratt, Nicola and Richter-Devroe, Sophie (2011). “Critically Examining UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 13, issue 4, pp. 489-503.
• Price, Bryan (2012). “Targeting Top Terrorists: How Leadership Decapitation Contributes to Counterterrorism.” International Security, vol. 36, issue 4, pp. 9-46.
• RAND Corporation. “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”
• Shaw, Ian (2013). “Predator Empire: The Geopolitics of US Drone Warfare” Geopolitics vol. 18, issue 3, pp. 536-559.
• Singh, Bilveer, Sara Dissanayake, Nazneen Mohsina and Akanksa Narain (2017). “Women’s Evolving and Diversified Roles in Terrorism and Militancy.” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses (CTTA), vol. 9, issue 8.
• Tech Against Terrorism. “Launch of Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.”
• True, Jacqui and Eddyono, Sri. “Preventing Violent Extremism: Gender Perspectives and Women's Roles.” Monash Gender, Peace and Security policy brief, pp. 1-8.
• Urdal, Henrik (2006). “A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence.” International Studies Quarterly, vol. 50, issue 3, pp. 607-629.
• Welsh, James, P. (2017). “Moral panics by design: The case of terrorism.” Current Sociology, vol. 65, issue 5, pp. 643-662.
• Wright, Shaun, David Denney, Alasdair Pinkerton, Vincent A. A. Jansen and John Bryden (2016). “Resurgent Insurgents: Quantitative Research Into Jihadists Who Get Suspended but Return on Twitter.” Journal of Terrorism Research, vol.7, issue 2. 

Reports, Resolutions and Declarations

• Alava, Séraphin, Divina Frau-Meigs and Ghayda Hassan (2017). Youth and Violent Extremism on Social Media: Mapping the Research. Paris: UNESCO.
• Amnesty International (2003). Israel and the Occupied Territories: Israel must end its policy of assassinations. 4 July. MDE 15/056/2003
• Anderlini, Sanam N. (2000). “Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference.” PP. 1-70.
• Council of Europe (2005). Human rights and the fight against terrorism: The Council of Europe Guidelines. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
• Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly (2005). Recommendation 1706 (2005): Media and Terrorism. 20 June.
• Darden, Jessica T. (2019). “Tackling Terrorists' Exploitation of Youth.” May.
• Human Rights Watch (2012). “No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia.” February, pp. 1-104.
• IACtHR (2002). Report on Terrorism and Human Rights. 22 October. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.116, Doc. 5 rev. 1 corr.
•  International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) (2008). Montreux Document: On pertinent international legal obligations and good practices for States related to operations of private military and security companies during armed conflict.
• Joint Committee on Human Rights, United Kingdom Parliament (2015-16). The Government’s policy on the use of drones for targeted killing.
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in cooperation with Centro de Investigaciones de Relaciones Internacionales y Desarrollo (CIDOB) (2007). The Role of Civil Society in Preventing Terrorism: Informal Working Level Meeting Report. 16 March. ODIHR.GAL/34/07.
• United Nations Population Fund (2019), “Women as Drivers of Peace and Stability Report.”
• United Nations Secretary-General (2015), “Report of the Secretary-General on women and peace and security.” Report S/2015/716, 16 September.
• United Nations Secretary-General (2018), “Activities of the United Nations System in Implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.” Report A/72/840, 20 April.
• United Nations Secretary-General (2019), “Conflict Related Sexual Violence.” Report S/2019/280, 29 March.
• United Nations Secretary-General (2019). United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.
• United Nations Secretary-General (2020), “Youth and peace and security.” Report S/2020/167, 2 March.
• United Nations Secretary-General (2020), “Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.” Report E/2020/57, 28 April.
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2015). “UNESCO’s role in promoting education as a tool to prevent violent extremism”. 23 November.197 EX/46. Paris: UNESCO.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Ending Statelessness Within 10 Years.” A Special Report, pp. 1-23.
• UN Women Asia and the Pacific. “Preventing Violent Extremism.”
• UN Women (2019). “The Empowered Women, Peaceful Communities Report
• USAID, (2005). “Youth and Conflict: a Toolkit for Intervention.”

United Nations Materials

• United Nations, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
  • (2013). General Recommendation No. 35: Combatting racist hate speech. 26 September. CERD/C/GC/35.
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • (2016). Preventing Violent Extremism through Promoting Inclusive Development, Tolerance and Respect for Diversity: A development response to addressing radicalization and violent extremism. New York: UNDP.
  • (2017). Journey to Extremism in Africa: Drivers, Incentives and the Tipping Point for Recruitment. New York: UNDP.
  • (2018). UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021. UNDP.
  • (2019). Young People at the forefront of preventing and responding to violent extremism. New York: UNDP.
• United Nations, General Assembly
  • (2006(b)). The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. 20 September. A/RES/60/288.
  • (2008(b)). The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. 28 August. A/63/337.
  • (2012). Promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. 7 September. A/67/357.
  • (2013). Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. 13 September. A/68/382.
  • (2014). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. 23 September. A/69/397.
  • (2015(b)). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 21 October. A/RES/70/1.
  • (2015(c)). Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism: Report of the Secretary-General. 24 December. A/70/674.
  • (2016). The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Review. 1 July. A/70/L.55.
  • (2017(a)). The right to privacy in the Digital Age. 25 January. A/RES/71/199.
  • (2018). The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Review. 22 June. A/72/L.62 

• United Nations, General Assembly, Human Rights Council
  • (2010(c)). Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston: Study on targeted killings. 28 May. A/HRC/14/24/Add.6.
  • (2013(a)). Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Addendum Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the expert workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred.11 January. A/HRC/22/17/Add.4
  • (2014(a)). Communications report of Special Procedures. 24 February. A/HRC/25/74.
  • (2014(b)). Civil Society Space. 23 September. A/HRC/27/L.24
  • (2014(c)). Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heine Bielefeldt. 23 December. A/HRC/28/66/Add.1.
  • (2014(d)). Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Biefeldt: Mission to Viet Nam (21 to 31 July 2014). 29 December. A/HRC/28/66/Add.2
  • (2015(b)). Communications Report of Special Procedures. 2 June. A/HRC/29/50.
  • (2015(c)). Report of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to consider the possibility of elaborating an international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies on its fourth session. 9 July. A/HRC/30/47.
  • (2016(a)). Communications Report of Special Procedures. 19 February. A/HRC/31/79.
  • (2016(b)). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. 29 April. A/HRC/31/65.
  • (2016(c)). Report on best practices and lessons learned on how protecting and promoting human rights contribute to preventing and countering violent extremism. 21 July. A/HRC/33/29.
  • (2017(c)). Report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. 20 July. A/HRC/36/47.
• United Nations, Human Rights Committee
  • (1984). J.R.T. and the W.G. Party v. Canada, Communication No. 104/1981. U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/OP/2 at 25.
  • (2017). General Comment No. 36 on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the Right to Life. Revised Draft Prepared by the Rapporteur.
• United Nations, General Assembly, Security Council (2018). The missing peace: independent progress study on youth and peace and security. 2 March. A/72/761-S/2018/86.
• United Nations, International Law Commission (2001). “Draft articles on Responsibility of State for Internationally Wrongful Acts, with commentaries.” Yearbook of the International Law Commission, vol. II, Part Two.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2014a). Handbook on Children Recruited and Exploited by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups: The Role of the Justice System. Vienna: UNODC.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2014b). Module on Human Rights and Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism of the Counter-Terrorism Legal Training Curriculum. Vienna: UNODC.
• United Nations, Security Council
  • (2000). UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000).
  • (2005). UNSC Resolution 1624 (2005).
  • (2014(b)). UNSC Resolution 2178 (2014).
  • (2015(a)). UNSC Resolution 2242 (2015).
  • (2015(b)). UNSC Resolution 2250 (2015).
  • (2016). UNSC Resolution 2282 (2016).
  • (2018). UNSC Resolution 2419 (2018).
  • (2019). UNSC Resolution 2467 (2019).
  • (2020). UNSC Resolution 2535 (2020).
  • (2017). Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence. 15 April. S/2017/249.
• United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, OAS Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and ACommHPR Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information. Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and countering violent extremism.

Websites

• Drone Wars. Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
• Global Terrorism Database.
• Lawfare, Unwilling or Unable.
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
• “Slaughterbots” (Dir. Stewart Sugg). Future of Life Institute.
• The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Drone Warfare.
• United Nations website on Women, Peace and Security
• The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT)
• Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (2016). Empowering Women Countering Extremism
• Mothers for Life Network.

 

Back to top