Steven Dewulf

Human Rights in the Criminal Code? A critique of the curious implementation of the EU and Council of Europe instruments on combating and preventing terrorism in Belgian criminal legislation

Different international instruments on the prevention and suppression of terrorism from the European Union and the Council of Europe task States with adopting new terrorist offences. At the same time, several provisions in these international instruments remind States of their obligation to fully adhere to their human rights obligations when implementing, interpreting and applying these new offences. Following these provisions, Belgium decided to insert a rather curious human rights clause in its Criminal Code. This article will critically examine this peculiar clause and the decision(s) made by the Belgian legislator. The key question is whether or not States should indeed also implement such human rights provisions in their criminal legislation, and if so, in what way they should best proceed. It will be argued that inserting such a specific human rights clause for one particular offence in a domestic criminal code might not only be superfluous, but could even have unforeseen, unwanted and hazardous effects.

International Criminal Law

The present collection is a selection of the most important instruments. It is meant to guide students and practitioners through the labyrinth. Its focus is on international (universal) and European instruments.

1. General Human Rights Instruments

The present collection is a selection of the most important instruments. It is meant to guide students and practitioners through the labyrinth. Its focus is on international (universal) and European instruments.

6. International Co-operation in Criminal Matters

The present collection is a selection of the most important instruments. It is meant to guide students and practitioners through the labyrinth. Its focus is on international (universal) and European instruments.

3. International Criminal Code

The present collection is a selection of the most important instruments. It is meant to guide students and practitioners through the labyrinth. Its focus is on international (universal) and European instruments.

2. International Criminal Court

The present collection is a selection of the most important instruments. It is meant to guide students and practitioners through the labyrinth. Its focus is on international (universal) and European instruments.

Protecting human rights in the war on terror: challenging the sanctions regime originating from Resolution 1267 (1999)

One of the realisations by the United Nations Security Council in the ‘War on Terror’, was the establishment of the ‘1267 terrorism list’, which holds the names of individuals, groups, undertakings and entities that are thought to be associated with Al-Qaida, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. A Sanctions Committee has been given the task of maintaining and updating this list, whilst States are obliged to implement several sanctions on all those blacklisted. Although this record has great value and is an important tool in the fight against terrorism, it is also surrounded by controversy because of the multiple human rights questions it raises. After a study of the origin and content of the 1267 sanctions regime, this article will mainly focus on an examination and a critical assessment of the means that are open for a subject to challenge his inclusion on the blacklist and subsequent submission to the sanctions.