Abstract
The departure of substantial numbers of 'foreign fighters' and the occurrence of terrorist attacks on European soil have prompted renewed interest in citizenship deprivation as a policy ...measure. This article aims to contribute to the debate on its utility as a counterterrorism measure by examining recent developments in citizenship deprivation legislation and its use in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK; discussing the wide array of possible scenarios that may follow after an individual is deprived of citizenship; and analysing to what extent the various outcomes are instrumental in countering terrorism. It concludes that most of the outcomes are problematic from a human rights perspective, or counterproductive in the fight against terrorism as they may cause further marginalisation and radicalisation and can play into the hands of terrorist groups, may cause people to disappear from the radar, and may undermine crucial international cooperation.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, PRFLJ, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Against the backdrop of countries increasingly being confronted with undesirable but unreturnable non-citizen terrorist suspects, this article describes the resettlement process of 150 cleared but ...unreturnable Guantanamo Bay detainees. Merely 13% of these detainees have been resettled in full democracies, compared to 52% in authoritarian regimes. Using Starkley et al.’s concept of ‘zone agreement’ the article explains how the U.S. particularly managed to incentivize pragmatically oriented – rather than idealistically motivated – governments to engage in third country resettlement
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. From the perspective of the U.S. the resettlement scheme can be considered relatively successful, while the experiences of resettlement countries and the resettled detainees themselves have been very mixed.
Based on all publicly available International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) early release decisions as of May 31, 2017, this explorative article empirically analyzes, ...systematizes, and evaluates how ICTY convicts reflected on their past crimes during early release proceedings and how this affected decision-making of the ICTY President regarding their level of rehabilitation and early release. For this purpose, we developed an analytical framework distinguishing between acknowledgement of responsibility and remorse, as two forms of reflection on the past crimes, and their general and personal dimensions. Our analysis demonstrates that of all 53 individuals early released at the ICTY, 36% were considered sufficiently rehabilitated and a part of their sentence pardoned without any information regarding their outlook on the crimes they had been convicted of. Only 19% of the early released prisoners acknowledged their personal responsibility and expressed remorse for the crimes they committed. Others denied, only partially accepted responsibility and/or showed remorse on a general level, which, however, did not bar their early release. The article argues that this haphazard practice brings into question the ICTY legacy with respect to its goal of offender rehabilitation and its potential effects on reconciliation in the Former Yugoslavia.
Against the backdrop of push‐pull and social network theories on migration and criminological theory on human smuggling, this article tries to answer the questions of why and how Angolan ...asylum‐seekers migrated to the Netherlands since the end of the 1990s. The study shows that the migrants can be described as opportunity seeking migrants, rather than survival migrants. Most migrants made no use of typical human smugglers during their travel. They rather used assistance from their social network and made use of the services of middlemen, called esquemas, on an ad‐hoc basis. In this article it is argued that “archetypal” large smuggling organisations in Angola have not evolved because of the existence of these highly informal networks. Support is found that both push‐pull and social network theories can contribute to explaining irregular, asylum migration.
On the basis of Article 1F of the Refugee Convention, alleged perpetrators of international crimes can be excluded from refugee protection. This paper explains why the Netherlands – which is among ...the countries that apply Article 1F most actively – has, despite administrative commitment, so far successfully prosecuted only 4 out of approximately 800 excluded individuals. On the basis of an analysis of 1F files and interviews with policy makers, representatives from the National Prosecution Office and investigators, we identify the most relevant legal and practical challenges. Although domestic prosecution of suspects of international crimes is already complicated in itself, this article presents a number of additional factors that make prosecuting excluded persons even more challenging.
Abstract
States increasingly prosecute irregular migrants – asylum-seekers included – for their (alleged) involvement in human smuggling during their own migration journey. Based on a literature ...review and interviews with lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and migrants on Sicily, this article provides insight into the nature and scale of this phenomenon in Italy and discusses the effects of criminal prosecution on these migrants’ asylum procedures. From 2015–2018, as a standard operating procedure, roughly 1,300 “captains” and navigators – scafisti (literally: smugglers by boat) – of small dinghies with migrants arriving in Italy have been arrested for suspicion of “aiding clandestine (or irregular) immigration”. Most scafisti are migrants themselves and there are strong indications that they were forced to steer or navigate the boat. These prosecuted migrants face many difficulties in proving duress and are often inadequately advised about the consequences of a criminal conviction on their subsequent immigration procedures. After a conviction, as well as after an acquittal, they are often excluded from official reception centres and have difficulties accessing asylum procedures. When they manage to apply for asylum, they will be denied international protection if they have been convicted. When they cannot be expelled, they may end up in a legal limbo, having to rely on a temporary humanitarian status with strict limitations.
As of July 2013, the ICTY, ICTR and SCSL have together convicted and sentenced over 120 perpetrators of international crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra ...Leone, respectively. Only 13% of these convicts serve life imprisonment. The vast majority has been sentenced to determinate sentences. According to the tribunals' Statutes convicted persons serve their sentences in a country designated by a tribunal. The enforcement of sentences, including any commutation of sentences, is governed by the laws of the countries of imprisonment. 'International prisoners' have been scattered around Europe and Africa and almost half of the convicts have already been (early) released. So far not much has been written about conditions under which international prisoners serve their sentences; factors that justify their (early) release; and what they do after their release. In this article we provide an initial overview of this empirical reality of the post-conviction stage at the international criminal tribunals. Since the ICC has adopted a largely similar approach to sentence enforcement, the findings might serve as a starting point for discussion and possible re-assessment of future enforcement of international sentences.
The increasing importance of establishing an Islamic state (a Caliphate) among religious terrorist groups has drawn the attention of academics and policymakers towards the benefits and pitfalls of ...the promotion of secularization as a counterterrorism strategy. Based on the historical experiences of secularization and religionization in Iraq and its societal structures, combined with a literature review of recent developments in the region, this article discusses to what extent and how secularization may promote and/or frustrate religious terrorism in present day Iraq. It concludes that, apart from some radical elements, there seems to be ideological and political space in Iraq to consider taking a direction to a more secular system. This could reduce political tensions and subsequently frustrate religious terrorism. Implementing it in a proper model in which major religious groups feel equally represented, however, may prove to be very challenging.
Case studies in the Netherlands and the UK of asylum applicants excluded or under consideration of exclusion pursuant to Article 1Fa of the Refugee Convention reveal that some applicants falsely ...implicated themselves in serious crimes or behaviours in order to enhance their refugee claim. This may have serious consequences for the excluded per-sons themselves, as well as for national governments dealing with them. For this reason we suggest immigration authorities could consider forewarning asylum applicants i.e. before their interview, about the existence, purpose and possible consequences of exclusion on the basis of Article 1F.
This article discusses to what extent Nils Christie’s famous stereotype of the ‘ideal victim’ is applicable in a context of international crimes. It argues that the characteristics of the ideal ...victim of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes largely overlap with the ideal victim of conventional crimes. Nevertheless, victims of international crimes face much more difficulty in publicizing their fate and consequently ‘benefiting’ from their status as victim. It is only when potential status givers are aware of the victims' existence that the victim status can be granted. It is argued that, to grasp international media attention, particular attributes of a conflict should also be present: the conflict should be comprehensible, have a unique selling point, have a limited time span and be well-‘timed’. Whether such media attention materializes in actions by international politicians or private humanitarian organizations depends on domestic policies, geopolitical interests, accessibility to the region and the possibility of donors identifying with the victims.
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