From 2 to 4 September, the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ), through its Counter-Terrorism Platform for Human Rights Engagement (CT PHARE), with generous funding from the European Union, convened a three-day activity in Brussels to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the MENA region to engage safely and effectively in counter-terrorism oversight and accountability mechanisms, in line with the 15 Good Practices set out in the GCTF Brussels Memorandum.
Held in Brussels, Belgium, the activity provided a platform for peer learning, practical problem-solving, and the exchange of regional experiences and approaches. It also supported the establishment and activation of a sustained regional network of CSO practitioners working on counter-terrorism oversight, creating opportunities for continued peer exchange, collaboration, and mutual support.
The opening session featured remarks from Ms. Isabel Candela, Deputy Head of Unit, Global Security (FPI.1), European Commission; Mr. Nicolas Picciotto, Lead MENA (Levant & Gulf) and Foreign Terrorist Fighters, SECDEFPOL.3 – Counter Terrorism, European External Action Service (EEAS); and Mr. Paul Madden, CT PHARE Project Lead, IIJ. The remarks underlined the role of independent oversight in keeping counter-terrorism measures within the bounds of domestic and international law and framed the Brussels Memorandum's 15 Good Practices as a practical, evidence-based tool for parliaments, courts, specialised oversight bodies, and civil society alike.
The activity brought together CSO representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia: Mr. Muhammad Ebaid, Executive Director, Omnijuris Law and Justice Advocates (Egypt); Mr. Karim Abdelrady, CEO, Law and Democracy Support Foundation e.V. (Egypt); Dr. Amer Bani Amer, General Director, Hayat Rased Center (Jordan); Mr. Saadeddine Shatila, Executive Director, Cedar Centre for Legal Studies (Lebanon); Ms. Ilef Kassab, Independent Human Rights Expert, formerly of the World Organisation Against Torture (Tunisia); and Ms. Ghofrane Binous, Advocacy Officer, Adala for All (Tunisia).
They were joined by our expert Ms. Annabelle Bonnefont, IIJ CT PHARE Chair of the Brussels Memorandum Working Group on Civil Society Organisations, and by institutional partners including Mr. Niki Esse de Lang, Regional Coordinator (Counter-Terrorism), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Mr. Etienne Duberne, EU ACT Project, Ms. Cecilia Pellosniemi, Political Advisor EU Special Representative for Human Rights who moderated the session on Administrative Detention, and Mr. Matthew Willner-Reid, Programme Manager, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), European Commission.
The activity began with a clear understanding of the role of CSOs in each participating country and progressed to an examination of the global and regional CT oversight landscape. Participants then unpacked the most critical barriers to effective oversight — including protection and reprisals, access to information and transparency, formalising CSO engagement, and capacity and technical gaps — before working through an interactive exercise mapping the roles CSOs currently play, the roles they should play, and what blocks them. A dedicated session on administrative detention drew on country perspectives from across the region to examine legal and practical challenges in this area.
Drawing on three days of exchange, participants identified a set of concrete recommendations to strengthen civil society's role in counter-terrorism oversight:
- Institutionalise structured, ongoing consultation between civil society and relevant government ministries (justice, interior, political affairs) on counter-terrorism legislation and policy.
- Develop a shared framework among CSOs for consolidating and channelling recommendations to national authorities and international bodies.
- Encourage donors and international partners to make consultation with civil society an explicit condition of counter-terrorism-related funding and cooperation.
- Ensure human rights clauses in international cooperation and security agreements are matched by real, active monitoring mechanisms.
- Establish protection networks — linking in-country and international actors — for human rights defenders, witnesses, and documenters working on sensitive counter-terrorism cases.
- Extend capacity building beyond civil society and lawyers to prosecutors, judges, and legislators, to build shared understanding across the justice chain.
- Support legislative reform of counter-terrorism laws, with civil society engaged as an equal partner rather than a consultee.
- Sustain cross-regional peer learning — joint webinars and shared case studies — so CSOs can learn from successes and setbacks in other regions.
Mr. Esse de Lang presented a broad outline of proposed work that can be conducted that will help sustain the operationalisation of the GCTF Brussels Memorandum.
As a first concrete step, the IIJ, the European Union, and UNODC will work together to translate the discussions from this activity — together with inputs from other regional consultations — into concrete guidance on effective oversight engagement, risk assessment, and protection safeguards.
Closing the activity, CT PHARE Project Lead Mr. Madden reflected on how the three days had moved participants from raising awareness of the Brussels Memorandum's Good Practices to a shared, practical understanding of what independent and effective oversight looks like on the ground across the MENA region. He thanked the European Union for its continued trust in the IIJ over four years of CT PHARE; Ms. Annabelle Bonnefont for her sustained expertise as Chair of the Brussels Memorandum Working Group on CSOs; the EU Special Representative on Human Rights' legal adviser for moderating the session on administrative detention; Mr. Niki Esse de Lang of UNODC for his engagement throughout and for introducing the next stage of this work; and, above all, the CSO participants for the depth and honesty of their contributions.