Workstream 1: Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms in Counter-Terrorism Operations
CT PHARE’s strategy for oversight and accountability mechanisms is to provide criminal justice practitioners, representatives of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), ombudsman institutions, police complaints authorities, parliamentary bodies, and CSOs, an increased understanding on how to address gaps and vulnerabilities in their national responses to human rights violations across the regions where the IIJ operates. Additionally, it aims to enhance collaboration amongst professionals and their respective countries at the transregional level.
In 2023, CT PHARE implemented four regional workshops organised across the MENA, West Africa, East Africa and Southeast Asia regions (June-November 2023). The three-day activities consisted of working sessions and interactive discussions to identify gaps, vulnerabilities and good practices in the promotion and protection of human rights. This was done with the overall goal to identify for each region a set of recommendations on independent oversight and accountability mechanisms in counter-terrorism operations.
Experts from the AUCTC, the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED), the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and the respective regional networks of National Human Rights Institutions attended the events.
In 2023, following the four regional workshops, CT PHARE supported the EU to develop a GCTF Good Practice Framework Document on oversight and accountability mechanisms in counter-terrorism operations. This Document falls under a GCTF standalone Initiative on Oversight and Accountability, led by the EU, and endorsed by the GCTF Twenty-second Coordinating Committee in September 2023. This GCTF Framework Document was developed following an extensive consultation process, involving a dedicated Expert Reference Group, which met multiple times (online and in presence) to provide input into the finalisation of the above-mentioned document.
The Expert Reference Group comprised of the following organizations: the AUCTC, the AIMC, the UNCTED, the GCCS, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Office of EU Special Representative for Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. The document is titled: The Brussels Memorandum on Good Practices for Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms in Counterterrorism.