CIHRS 24th Regional Forum for the Human Rights Movement: 20 Years After 9/11attacks: Lessons Learned from two decades of Counterterrorism

Invitation

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is pleased to invite you to attend its Regional Forum for the Human Rights Movement, organized on September 7 and 8, under the title “Twenty Years After 9/11 Attacks: Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Counterterrorism.”

This year’s Forum is held over two online sessions. The first discussion is organized under the title The Implications of 20 years of Counterterrorism on Human Rights in the Arab region, and will held on Tuesday, September 7 at 16:00 (Paris time). The second discussion, The Authoritarianism-Terrorism Nexus: The Cases of Iraq and Syria, will be held on Wednesday, September 8 at 16:00 (Paris time).

The first session will focus on the securitized and militaristic approaches of counter-terrorism and their repercussions on the Arab region. The session will also address efforts within the international community, including in the United Nations, to protect human rights and its defenders while countering terrorism. Neil Hicks (CIHRS Senior Director for Advocacy) and Massimo Frigo (International Commission of Jurists’ Representative to the UN) will be speaking, and Bochra Bel Haj Hmeida (President of the Tunisian Individual Freedom and Equality Commission) will be moderating the session. The session will be held with the participation of human rights defenders and academic experts. 

To register to this session, click on this link.

The second session will focus on Iraq and Syria as two cases exemplifying the nexus between authoritarianism and the growth of terrorism, alongside authoritarian governments’ exploitation of counterterrorism as a means of preserving and bolstering their political power. The discussion will also explore the role of sectarian politics in fueling extremism and its impact on combating terrorism in a context lacking justice and accountability. Laila al-Refaai (Syrian writer and researcher on religious affairs) and Matthew Bamber (Doctoral Researcher at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute, Geneva) will be speaking, and Moataz al Fegiery (CIHRS Board Member) will moderate the discussion. Human rights defenders from the region will be participating in the session.  

To register to this session, click on this link.

Launched in 1999 by CIHRS, the Forum is an intellectual initiative bringing together academics and human rights defenders, with the goal of fostering a framework for dialogue on urgent issues related to democratization and human rights in the Arab region, with an emphasis on the prospects and challenges facing the human rights movement.