scholarly journals Intelligence Sector Reforms in Romania: A Scorecard

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-313
Author(s):  
Lavinia Stan ◽  
Marian Zulean
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
State Security ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Mass Surveillance

Since 1989, reforms have sought to align the Romanian post-communist intelligence community with its counterparts in established democracies. Enacted reluctantly and belatedly at the pressure of civil society actors eager to curb the mass surveillance of communist times and international partners wishing to rein in Romania’s foreign espionage and cut its ties to intelligence services of non-NATO countries, these reforms have revamped legislation on state security, retrained secret agents, and allowed for participation in NATO operations, but paid less attention to oversight and respect for human rights. Drawing on democratization, transitional justice, and security studies, this article evaluates the capacity of the Romanian post-communist intelligence reforms to break with communist security practices of unchecked surveillance and repression and to adopt democratic values of oversight and respect for human rights. We discuss the presence of communist traits after 1989 (seen as continuity) and their absence (seen as discontinuity) by offering a wealth of examples. The article is the first to evaluate security reforms in post-communist Romania in terms of their capacity to not only overhaul the personnel and operations inherited from the Securitate and strengthen oversight by elected officials, but also make intelligence services respectful of basic human rights.

The Justice Facade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
International Justice ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Post Conflict

Is there a point to international justice? This book explores this question in Cambodia, where Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge revolutionaries committed genocide and crimes against humanity in an attempt to create a pure socialist regime (1975–1979). Due to geopolitics, it was only in 2006 that a UN-backed hybrid tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (“Khmer Rouge Tribunal”), commenced operation, one of a growing number of post-Cold War transitional justice interventions. The Justice Facade argues that there is a point to such tribunals, but it is masked by a set of utopian human rights and democratization ideals. Instead of projecting this transitional justice imaginary onto post-conflict peacebuilding efforts, we need to step behind the justice facade to examine what tribunals mean in terms of everyday life and practices—such as the Buddhist beliefs and ritual interactions with the spirits of the dead that are critical to Cambodian victims and survivors. In making this argument, The Justice Facade focuses on civil society outreach efforts to “translate” the court in terms meaningful to Cambodians, the majority of whom are rural villagers, as well as the experience of Cambodian civil parties who testified. This ground-breaking study of transitional justice and demonstration of the importance of examining “justice in translation” is of critical importance not just to those working in the field of transitional justice and law, but in related fields such as development, human rights, anthropology, and peacebuilding.

Egypt will resist pressure to improve rights record

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Security ◽  
Personal Rights ◽  
High Level ◽  
Near Future

Significance Three members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) were arrested between November 15 and 19, after meeting top European diplomats two weeks earlier to discuss the country’s human rights situation. The men were released on December 3 following an international outcry, but their assets remain frozen. On December 10, Italian prosecutors formally charged four senior Egyptian state security officials with the 2016 kidnapping and murder of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni, contributing to mounting pressure on Cairo for its human rights record. Impacts Egypt’s civil society community is under existential threat. Large-scale campaigns by international actors will be reserved for Egyptian organisations and individuals with high-level connections. No dramatic developments concerning Egypt’s tens of thousands of political prisoners are expected in the near future.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps and Technologies as a tool of Mass Surveillance: A Cure Deadlier than the Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-67
Author(s):  
Arafat Ibnul Bashar
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mass Surveillance

“Desperate times call for desperate measures” – COVID-19 contact tracing apps and technology have been operating in the desperate times created by the COVID-19 global pandemic. But the impact of these apps and technology on society is contentious, as the benefit gained from such is said to be largely outweighed by the negative impact it can have during and after the pandemic. Surveillance measures have always been a tricky business. Labeled as the ‘magical solution’ for most horrid problems of our time such as terrorism, crime prevention, it has always failed to live up to its name and has proved to be one of the prominent tools for the authoritarian regimes to oppress people and commit gross human rights violations. Over-reliance on COVID-19 apps and considering them a ‘magical solution’ to containing the spread of Coronavirus can have irreversible consequences. Instead, the pandemic and desperate situation posed by it may have provided the regimes around the world an opportunity to introduce new surveillance infrastructures or strengthen the existing ones, which would have taken years and lots of friction from courts, activists, and civil society, to achieve. The article assesses the legality of COVID-19 contact tracing apps and technology and tries to draw a picture of the society that faces the consequences of surveillance and data collected through such apps and technology and looks at how legal mechanisms can cope with such consequences.

scholarly journals RESISTING TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION: THE DIGITAL SECURITY PRACTICES OF DIASPORA AND EXILED HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Michaelsen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Transnational Networks ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Transnational Civil Society ◽  
State Actors ◽  
And Behavior

For diaspora activists in transnational networks, digital media play a crucial role to mobilize and advocate against authoritarian regimes in their country of origin. Yet the reliance on these technologies creates multiple points of exposure that state actors exploit to silence and punish dissent from abroad. While research has exposed the technical underpinnings of digital attacks targeting civil society, less is known on how potential targets perceive and respond to these threats. Using more than 50 interviews with exiled human rights defenders and journalists from Egypt, Syria and Iran, this paper investigates risk perceptions and security practices of activists in transnational networks. It shows that rather than on nuanced risk assessment, digital security decisions and behavior are often built on the “imagined affordances” of digital technologies for surveillance and information control. The paper argues that the complexity of digital tools and constantly evolving risks thus only work to aggravate activists’ uncertainty regarding the capabilities of the state actors threatening them, reinforcing the silencing effects of transnational repression. Networks of incident response, support and information sharing, in turn, will help to strengthen the digital resilience of transnational civil society.

scholarly journals Towards Post-Transitional Justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Repressive Regime ◽  
In The Beginning

When democratization took place in 1998 after three decades of authoritarianism in Indonesia, transitional justice became one of the agendas for the country. With the nature of compromised political transition, transitional justice brought together the interest of the elements who wished to challenge the repressive regime, and those who wished to distant themselves from the old regime in order to return to politics. As the result, transitional justice measures were successfully adopted in the beginning of political transition but failed to achieve its goals to break with the old regime and bring justice to victims. Today, after twenty years since reformasi, elements of the politics are consolidated, including those coming from the old regime. Transitional justice is undergoing a period I refer as “post transitional justice”. The main character of this state is the extensive roles of civil society. I argue in this paper that civil society, in particular the human rights groups, have important roles since the beginning of the transition in setting the agenda for transitional justice until today when state-centered mechanisms failed and led to post-transitional justice situation. These groups shift strategies to work from below and from the margins, which give strong character for post-transitional justice in Indonesia.

United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Christian Leuprecht
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
State Security ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
European Court ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
The Uk

The United Kingdom’s intelligence accountability system reviews and oversees the Five Eyes’ oldest intelligence and security community. Her Majesty’s intelligence community illustrates the challenge of managing the tension between state security with human security: a cycle of reform driven in an attempt to (re)gain the trust of a sceptical UK public and in response to technological progression. Over the course of the last century, the UK and its intelligence and security agencies (ISAs) assisted other Five Eyes members in establishing their own ISAs, while its cycle of reform has had equally important ramifications for driving innovation in intelligence accountability across the Five Eyes community. Controversies have undermined the prospect for public trust on which the legitimacy of the UK’s intelligence community ultimately depends. Changes from the initial focus on general administrative and executive review and oversight were driven by domestic and transnational legal challenges. The European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights have had a notable impact on security and intelligence in the United Kingdom. The chapter reviews the member organizations of the UK’s intelligence community, the strategic environment that has informed intelligence and accountability in the UK, national security threats from the vantage point of the UK, and the UK’s intelligence accountability architecture: the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and Judicial Commissioners Office, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the Intelligence and Security Committee composed of members of both Houses of Parliament, and the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

scholarly journals Spatializing Memory and Justice in Transformation Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Susanne Buckley-Zistel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Transformation Processes

Abstract This chapter asks what processes of dealing with the past have been set in motion and how they relate to the search for justice and the quest for remembrance on a more global scale. In the aftermath of the “Arab Spring,” the affected countries have been going through transitions of various forms that are significantly re-configuring the MENA region. In this context, a number of new civil society actors, political elites, and international norm entrepreneurs are engaging with the lengthy histories of repression in the respective countries as well as with the violence that occurred during the Arab Spring in order to reckon with the legacy of human rights abuses (Sriram, Transitional justice in the middle East and North Africa, Hurst, London, 2017). These transitions to justice are not without obstacles and challenges, though. The objective of her chapter is therefore not to tell the stories of various transitional justice and memory projects in post-Arab Spring countries, but to situate such practices in time and space.

In Defence of Politics against Security?

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Neal
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
The Us ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Government Project ◽  
History Of

This chapter begins with the history of security as a form of ‘anti-politics’, from Hobbes to 20th century struggles to tame the ‘rogue elephant’ of the US intelligence services. It discusses the growth of security practices since 9/11 and reviews a range of key literature in security studies that perpetuates the ‘anti-politics’ idea. The chapter then explores the key concepts of the book including the meaning of ‘politics’, the stakes involved in defining what is and is not ‘political’, and the normative and analytical significance of the concept of ‘normal politics’ in relation to the ‘exceptional politics’ of security. It also discusses the ‘political game’ and ‘professional politics’ as the empirical focus of the book, framing this through works of Machiavelli, Weber, Foucault, and Bourdieu. The chapter closes by describing the overarching historical narrative and extended UK case study of the book: a four-decade shift from institutionalised forms of ‘exceptional’ security politics in 1980s to the current situation in which security is a ‘whole of government’ project that increasingly occupies the ‘normal’ activities of politics.

Preamble

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boven Theo van
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
The Core

The Preamble of the Principles is based on the premise that the Principles will provide guidance to States and other entities in developing effective measures for combating impunity. A leading normative component of the Preamble is the trilogy of the core rights to know, to justice and to reparation, including guarantees of non-recurrence. This chapter first describes the functions and characteristics of a Preamble and provides an overview of the report of Special Rapporteur Louis Joinet before discussing the Updated Set of Principles and the evolving notion of ‘transitional justice’; the campaign against impunity; and the orientation and scope of the Principles, including the Preamble, in the broader settings of restoring peace and democracy. Issues concerning broad participatory involvement of victims, human rights defenders and other sectors of civil society are also considered.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS IN STRENGTHENING THE SECURITY AND DEFENSE SECTOR OF THE STATE

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Yuriy Romanyuk ◽  
Volodymyr Palyvoda
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Public Examination ◽  
General Direction ◽  
Special Services ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
Governmental Institutions

The article considers the problems of special and intelligence services, defines the role of civil society in expanding the intelligence community of Ukraine. Examples of advanced countries’ best foreign practices in the engagement of NGOs in national security problems solutions are given. Essential for our State national security priority tasks have been identified. These include: "rebooting" the security sector, strengthening mutual trust, promoting democratic institutions, and building an active civil society. Areas and ways of non-governmental institutions and public organizations' involvement in the implementation of special tasks to achieve the necessary synergy and strengthen national resilience are identified. Such main areas could include, in particular: drafting recommendations to improve state policy in the areas of national security, the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms, the constitutional order; conducting public examination of the national security bills, drafting national security legislation, monitoring of relevant documents to increase the efficiency of their implementation and the responsibility of enforcers; collecting open sources information commissioned by intelligence and special services, preparing analytical studies and reports on specific issues on a contractual basis; participation in planning and conduct of certain special operations under the general direction and coordination of intelligence agencies and special services; development of basic science in the interests of security and defence of the country, conducting applied research, creating new technologies; preparation of proposals for the implementation of national security legislation; development of appropriate mechanisms and procedures for public control; respect for freedom of speech, constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.

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