The Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
Human Rights Centre, Department of Law, University of Durham
Accountability OF international
intelligence cooperation
Workshop PROGRAMME
Date: 17 – 18October 2008Venue: The Storting, Norwegian Parliament,
The Conference centre
Prinsens Gate 26, 0026 Oslo
Accommodation: ThonHotelCecil,Stortingsgata 8, 0130Oslo, Norway
Point of Contact: Aidan Wills, email:
Tel: +41 22 741 77 00; Fax: +41 22 741 77 49
Background
International cooperation between national security and intelligence services represents one of most significant challenges to security sector accountability today. Since the end of the Cold War, the threatswith which states are confronted have become increasingly trans-national in nature, these include: large-scale organised crime; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; andinternational terrorism. The trans-boundary character of these threats hasled to increased cooperation between the intelligence and security agencies of different states that seek to address these issues. While in some fields, cooperation between the agencies of western states is longstanding, since 9/11 there has be an expansion in the both the scope and scale of international intelligence cooperation; intelligence agencies now cooperate with an increasingly broad range of international partners in areas as diverse as weapons inspections, the prosecution of war criminals and the prevention of international terrorism.
Recent activities associated with international intelligence cooperation have given rise to significant concerns regarding their impact upon human rights and civil liberties. Whilst a string of high-profile controversies have ensured that international intelligence cooperation has been subject to investigation by national oversight organs, international bodies andNGOs;national oversight and review bodies have struggled to ensure accountability for theseintelligence cooperation activities. As a result,international intelligence cooperation has largely remained outside the scrutiny of oversight bodies. The resulting lack of accountability represents a major challenge and this will be thoroughly examined at this international workshop which will also explore possible solutions for strengthening the accountability of international intelligence cooperation.
Objectives of the workshop:
The workshop will bring together leading experts on accountability and intelligence, with the objectives of examining the accountability of international intelligence cooperation, exchanging views on good practices, andputting forward recommendations for strengthening democratic oversight of international intelligence cooperation.
Participants
Participants will include members of intelligence oversight bodies, representatives of civil society and international organisations, intelligence professionals, and academic experts.
Organisation
The workshop is an initiative of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, DurhamUniversity’s Human Rights Centre and the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, in cooperation with the International Secretariat of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo.
Information
The point of contact for the workshop is Aidan Wills at DCAF, ;telephone+41 22 741 77 49, fax +41 22 741 77 05. All information will be made available at
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CHATHAM HOUSE RULE OF NON-ATTRIBUTION WILL APPLY THROUGHOUT THE WORKSHOP
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
Friday17 October 2008
13:30 – 14:00Arrival of Participants and Registration
14:00 – 15:00Session 1: Trends in International Intelligence Cooperation
15:00 – 16:00Session 2: Challenges to Accountability: Blacklisting & Personal Data Sharing
16:00 – 16:30Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:30Session 3: Challenges to Accountability: International Operations & Rendition
19.30Dinner hosted by the Presidency of the Norwegian Parliament.
Saturday 18 October 2008
09:00 – 10:15Session 4: Aspects of Oversight
10:15 – 10:45Coffee Break
10:45 – 11:45Overseers’ Roundtable 1
11:45 – 12:45Overseers’ Roundtable 2
12:45 – 13:45Lunch
13:45 – 14:45.Session 5: National and International Inquiries
14:45 – 15:15Coffee Break
15:15 – 16:30Session 6: Legality of International Intelligence Cooperation
16:30 – 16:45Concluding Remarks and the Way Ahead
PROGRAMME(10-10-08)
Friday 17 October 2008
13.30 – 14.00 / Arrival of Participants and Registration
14.00 – 15.00 / Session 1: Trends in International Intelligence Cooperation
Chair:
Helga Hernes, Chair of the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, OsloNorway
Speakers:
International Intelligence Cooperation: looking into the future
Jørn Holme, Head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), Oslo, Norway.
International Intelligence Cooperation in Practice
Richard Aldrich, Professor of International Security, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Questions and Answers
15.00 – 16.00 / Session 2: Challenges to Accountability: Blacklisting & Personal Data Sharing
Chair:
Ian Leigh, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Centre, University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom.
Speakers:
Blacklisting and Financial Sanctions against Suspected Terrorists
Iain Cameron, Professor of Public Law, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
Personal Data Sharing, Privacy and Surveillance
Craig Forcese, Professor of International Law, University of Ottawa, Canada.
Questions and Answers
16.00 – 16.30 / Coffee Break
16.30 – 17.30 / Session 3: Challenges to Accountability: International Operations & Rendition
Chair:
Andrea Wright, former Legal Counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, Ottawa, Canada.
Speakers
International Operations: Peacekeeping Operations, Weapons Inspections, Apprehension and the Prosecution of War Criminals
Simon Chesterman, Global Professor and Director, New YorkUniversitySchool of Law SingaporeProgramme, Singapore.
Rendition
Iain Cameron
Questions and Answers
19:30 / Dinner hosted by the Presidency of the Norwegian Parliament at the Stortinget’s Restaurant.
Saturday 18 October 2008
9.00 – 10.15 / Session 4: Aspects of Oversight
Chair
Craig Forcese
Speakers
Proactive and continuous oversight: constraints and possibilities
Philippe Hayez, Associate Professor at Sciences-Po, former Deputy Director for Collection & Analysis at the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), Paris, France.
Independent oversight bodies: constraints and possibilities
Helga Hernes
Parliamentary oversight: constraints and possibilities
Max Stadler, MP, Deputy Chair of the Bundestag Parliamentary
Control Panel and member of the G10 Commission, Berlin, Germany.
Questions and Answers
10.15 – 10.45 / Coffee Break
10.45 – 11.45 / Overseers’ Roundtable 1
Chairs:
Ian Leigh & Richard Aldrich
Panellists:
Irene Michiels van Kessenich-Hoogendam, Chair of the Review Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services, the Hague, the Netherlands
Göran Håkansson, Vice Chair of the Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection, Stockholm, Sweden.
Janusz Zemke (tbc), Chairman of the Defence Committee of Parliament of Poland (Sejm), Warsaw, Poland.
11.45 -12.45 / Overseers’ Roundtable 2
Chairs:
Hans Born & Philippe Hayez
Panellists:
Gérald Vande Walle, Member of the Standing Intelligence Agencies Review Committee, Brussels, Belgium.
Helga Hernes, Chair of the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee,Oslo, Norway.
Petru Gabriel Vlase,Vice-Chairperson of The Joint Standing Committee for the exercise of parliamentary control over the activity of the Foreign Intelligent Service (SIE)Bucharest, Romania.
12.45 – 13.45 / Lunch
13.45 – 14.45 / Session 5: National and International Inquiries
Chair:
Bert van Delden, Member of the Review Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services, the Hague, the Netherlands.
Speakers:
Domestic inquiries into international intelligence cooperation: Scope, Limits and Impact
Andrea Wright
International inquiries into international intelligence cooperation: Scope, Limits and Impact.
Hans Born
Questions and Answers
14.45 – 15.15 / Coffee Break
15.15 – 16.30 / Session 6: Legality of International Intelligence Cooperation
Chair:
Simon Chesterman
Speakers:
National courts and international cooperation
Ian Leigh
Application of international law to international intelligence cooperation
Mads Andenæs, Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, Norway.
Discussant
Martin Scheinin, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, and Professor of Public International Law, European University Institute Florence, Italy.
Questions and Answers
16.30 – 16.45 / Concluding Remarks and the Way Ahead
Speakers
Hans Born and Ian Leigh