Terrorism and International Law

Hosted by: The AIIA & Law Society of NSW Young Lawyers

The event will start on: Monday, 16 May 2011 6:00 PM

And will end on: Monday, 16 May 2011 7:45 PM

At The Glover Cottages, Sydney

124 Kent Street , Sydney NSW

02 9247 8504     nsw.branch@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: nsw   

The clinical execution of Osama Bin Laden in his redoubt in Pakistan has reminded us again of the many public policy issues related to terrorism. It was also in Abbottobad that the Bali bomber, Umar

Patek, was arrested in January. It is now suggested he was on his way to see Bin Laden. Was he tortured, and did his interrogation lead the Americans to their quarry?

Is torture of any kind, including waterboarding, acceptable conduct by those who job it is to track downterrorists? How long is it reasonable to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists before bringing

them to trial? And is anti-terrorism part of a military campaign or an international law-enforcementeffort? And, finally, what is the definition of a terrorist, and what does international law say about him

or her?

Over the last two decades, and particularly since 9/11, terrorism has come to the fore as one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

The Australian Institute of International Affairs and the NSW Young Lawyers International Law Committee jointly invite you to discuss thisimportant issue with three authorities:

Adjunct Professor Clive Williams MG, Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism,Macquarie University. Clive Williams has a career background as an officer in the Australian

Intelligence Corps, which included a number of overseas intelligence appointments. After leaving the Army in 1981, he pursued a civilian career in Defence Intelligence, working mainly on transnational

issues. He was a Chevening scholar at the War Studies Department, King's College, London, in 1987.

He has worked and lectured internationally on terrorism-related issues since 1980, and started runningterrorism courses at the ANU in 1996. He left Defence in 2002, and has since run terrorism and

national security-related Masters course electives at the ANU and a number of Australian andoverseas universities. He became an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and

Counter-Terrorism (PICT) at Macquarie University in 2006. He also became a Visiting Professor at theSchool of Human and Social Sciences (HASS) of the University of NSW at the Australian Defence

Force Academy (ADFA) in 2006. He is a member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Australian

Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO), and an Associate of the International Academyof Investigative Psychology (AIAIP).

Dr Christopher Michaelsen is a Senior Research Fellow at the UNSW Law Faculty. He teaches andspecialises in public international law, human rights and international security. Prior to joining UNSW,

he served as a Human Rights Officer (Anti-Terrorism) at the Office for Democratic Institutions andHuman Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw, Poland. He has previously worked for the United Nations Department for DisarmamentAffairs in New York City, and at the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National

University in Canberra.

He has served as a consultant for the Asian Law Group in Semarang,

Indonesia, and for the Center for Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation in New York City. Chris is amember of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and a member of the Australian Human Rights

Centre.

Dr James Renwick is a Barrister practising at the Sydney Bar. He is a former Fulbright Scholar. Priorto coming to the NSW Bar he was a solicitor in both private and government practice, with a particular

emphasis on public law. Some notable terrorism related matters include: representing Australia at thetrial of David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in late 2004, and appearing for the Police and ASIO ina number of terrorism prosecutions. He pioneered the teaching of national security law in Australia,gave one of the keynote addresses on that topic to the Judicial Conference of Australia in 2005 and, inJanuary 2008, devised, organised and spoke at a major conference on the conduct of terrorism trials,held in Washington DC, and undertook the same roles in 2010 in a conference on Jihadi recruitment.

He is an Associate of the Sydney Centre for International Law, which is part of the faculty of Lawwithin the University of Sydney.

Robin Bowley (Seminar Moderator) is a former officer in the Royal Australian Navy and graduateof the Australian Defence Force Academy and Royal Australian Naval College. He is currently working

as a solicitor for an Australian government regulatory authority and completing a PhD at the Universityof Wollongong on maritime terrorism and international law. Formerly a council member of the AIIA;Robin is the current Stream Administrator for International Maritime and Aviation Law with the NSWYoung Lawyers International Law Committee.