Does counter-terrorism just counter terrorism?

SECILE (Securing Europe Through Counter-Terrorism: Impact, Legitimacy, and Effectiveness) is a part-EU funded project of assembled European human rights and legal research experts tasked with exploring the true impact of European counter-terrorism policy since 2001.

Statewatch was the lead research partner for Work Programme 2 (researching EU counter-terrorism legislation) and conducted a 'stocktake' of EU counter-terrorism measures enacted since 11 September 2001, as well as collecting and analysing data about their implementation and assessment. This provided an empirical basis for other aspects of the project.

The reports produced by Statewatch for the SECILE project represent the first concerted attempt to catalogue all relevant EU counter-terrorism measures adopted since 11 September 2001; neither EU institutions nor external evaluators have attempted to produce a comprehensive repository that makes all of the full-text documentation readily available to the public.

If both legislative and non-legislative instruments are taken into account, the EU has adopted at least 239 separate counter-terrorism measures since 9/11. Of these, 88 - or 36% - are legally binding upon the Member States. A summary of findings; the catalogue of measures; their transposition at national level; the ways in which EU institutions have assessed their impact, legitimacy and effectiveness; and a case study on the drafting and implementation of the Data Retention Directive are available below (pdfs):

• Taking stock of EU counter-terrorism policy and review mechanisms: Summary of Statewatch's findings for SECILE project
• Also available in German: Eine Bestandsaufnahme der EU-Terrorismusbekämpfungspolitik und Überprüfungsmechanismen: Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse von State-watch für das SECILE-Projekt
• Catalogue of EU Counter-Terrorism Measures Adopted since 11 September 2001
• Report on the transposition of EU counter-terrorism measures
• Report on how the EU assesses the impact, legitimacy and effectiveness of its counterterrorism laws
• The EU Data Retention Directive: a case study in the legitimacy and effectiveness of EU counter-terrorism policy

The other partners in the project, which runs until October 2014, are Durham University Law School, the Centre for Irish and European Security (CIES), the National Maritime College of Ireland, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), King's College London Centre of European Law, and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia.

Other reports produced for the SECILE project, along with further information, are available on the SECILE website.