The Eminent Jurists Panel

Mandate

2006

 

The Eminent Jurists Panel, an initiative of the ICJ, is a group of senior judges and lawyers from around the world who, in the course of three years, examined the compatibility of laws, policies and practices, which are justified expressly or implicitly as necessary to counter terrorism, with international human rights law and, where applicable, with international humanitarian law.

In each country or region visited, the Panel asked the following questions:

(1) What special laws, policies or practices has the government adopted, since 2001, or in the past, which it has justified expressly or implicitly as necessary to counter-terrorism?

(2) Have these counter-terrorism measures had an impact on the rule of law and on the rights guaranteed to all persons by international human rights or international humanitarian law? If so, what has been the impact?

(3) How has the government justified such counter-terrorism measures and do you consider that past or current terrorist threats have justified these measures?

(4) What has been the impact of the ‘War On Terror’ in your country?

(5) What lessons should today’s policy-makers learn from any experiences your country has had in the past with terrorism and counter-terrorism?

These questions were supplemented by a more detailed framework of issues under consideration by the Panel. The issues were set out in the list of questions contained in the PDF file below.

The Panel also received written submissions from any interested individuals or organisations on the core issues identified in the list of questions.

List of questions