The increase in terrorist threats in recent years (particularly after the 9/11 terror attacks) has generated in many countries around the world a political and legal backlash with serious implications for the protection of human rights. While some restrictions on existing human rights, such as on the right to life, liberty and privacy, appear to be closely related to terror threats (though not necessarily justified), the links between certain restrictions and counter-terrorist measures are less apparent. This raises, in turn, concerns that the so called war on terror might be used as a pretext to alter the fundamental equilibrium between individual rights and governmental power, which the human rights movement long sought to establish also in spheres of life less subject to public scrutiny. Moreover, the erosion of a wide gamut of civil liberties as a result of terrorist threats represents another category of social costs associated with counter-terrorism, which needs to be studied and assessed as part of the evaluation of the efficacy of counter-terrorism.
The two-day seminar, which is organized by the IDI National Security and Democracy Program and Terror and Democracy Project, in cooperation with the Minerva Center for Human Rights and the Bruce W. Wayne Chair in International Law of the Hebrew University, will explore the impact of the war on terror on different aspects of the right to free speech and associated rights and interests, from a variety of perspectives: Israeli law, comparative law, international law and legal, political and philosophical theory. The seminar will comprise six panels.