Hamed Chapman

An Independent Commission on Counter-terrorism Law, Policy and Practice, was launched this month under the chair of former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

“We have brought together senior and experienced politicians, policy experts, practitioners, academics and individuals from across diverse communities to review the counter-terrorism laws, policies, and practices,” Sir Declan Morgan. said.

“We are completely independent. We want to see how effective the present counter-terrorism measures are and whether they impact unfairly on certain sections of the community,” said the retired top judge.

Members of the 15-member commission include, among others, former Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham, former Tory Chair, Baroness Warsi, and Alyson Kilpatrick, Chief Commissioner at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

The launch started with a call for evidence to hear from individuals, groups and organisations with knowledge, understanding and experience in relation to counter-terrorism. Its aim is to produce a report by 2024.

The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, which is providing the secretariat for the commission, said that it was 20 years since the Lloyd Report considered whether there would be any need for specific counter-terrorism legislation and 15 years since the publication of the UK’s controversial counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.

“While there have been Government reviews and revisions of the CONTEST strategy, there has not been a broad independent public consultation on the overall picture of counterterrorism law, policy, strategy, its implementation and impact,” it said.

“Effective counter-terrorism laws and policies require not only necessary and proportionate powers but also public support. There is now robust and consistent research evidence showing public support for and cooperation with government policies, including in counter-terrorism, increases where they are is developed in a way that meets basic standards of good law and policy making in a democracy.”