One of INSCT’s signature projects, New Battlefields/Old Laws (NBOL) began with a 2007 symposium to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Hague Convention of 1907 (“Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land”). It has since grown into a series of interdisciplinary workshops and associated publications that reexamine the application of centuries-old laws and customs of armed conflict in the age of non-conventional, asymmetric warfare.
The 2015 edition of New Battlefields/Old Laws will convene at the headquarters of project partner the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, Israel during ICT’s World Summit on Counter-Terrorism on Sept. 10, 2015. Titled “The Threat of Foreign Terrorist Fighters and UN Security Council Resolution 2178,” the workshop (and a related simulation) will explore what nations can do to prosecute, prevent, and/or de-radicalize nationals who wish to fight for insurgent and terrorist organizations in North Africa, the Middle East, and other regions.
Calling foreign terrorist fighting a “scourge on a global level,” the United Nations passed Resolution 2178 in September 2014. It called for all signatories to ensure that their legal systems can prosecute travel for terrorism or related training and the financing or facilitation of such activities. It also called for nations to take measures to curb radicalization within their own borders and to better monitor the travel of would-be insurgents and mercenaries “in order to avoid ‘feeding the monster’ of terrorism.”
Taking part in the morning workshop will be project lead William C. Banks, Dean of SU College of Law and Director of INSCT, and SU Law Associate Professor Nathan Sales. They will be joined by Peter Neumann, Director, International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, King’s College, London; David Scharia, Senior Legal Officer, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, UN Security Council; Gregory Rose, Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong, Australia; and Daphné Richemond-Barak, Senior Researcher and Head of the Terrorism and International Law Desk, ICT.
During the afternoon of Sept. 10, a simulation will further explore the issues raised during the workshop. “The Threat of Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters to Europe” takes as its backdrop the continuing asymmetric war between Islamic State and world coalition-backed forces in Syria, Iraq, and Kurdistan. In this simulation, a group of European foreign fighters is reportedly planning a large-scale attack in their state of origin, and senior security officials of the home state must act to prevent the attack and bring the would-be perpetrators and their associates to justice.
Distinguished counterterrorism experts who will be playing roles in the simulation are Brian M. Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President, RAND Corporation (Prime Minister); Dimitar Mihaylov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the State of Israel (Minister of Defense); Daphné Richemond-Barak, ICT (Minister of Justice); Michèle Coninsx, President, EUROJUST (Minister of Interior); LTC Bryan Price, Director, Combating Terrorism Center, US Military Academy at West Point (National Security Adviser); LTC Edward Brady, US Army War College Fellow, ICT (Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces); David Scharia, UN Security Council (Chief Prosecutor); Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Orit Adato, Associate, ICT, and Former Commissioner, Israeli Prison Service (Head of the Prison Service); and Rohan Gunaratna, Director, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Head of De-Radicalization Programs).
More information about the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, NBOL, and other workshops can be found here.