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2nd International Annual Law Conference

Terrorism: Challenges to emerging democracies in Africa

During this year's Annual Law Conference distinguished academics, politicians and other stakeholders from all around the world discussed the global phenomenon of terrorism, its origins, its legal implications and possible counter measures.

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What are the root causes and driving factors of terrorism? What legal challenges does this global phenomenon pose? And what specific measures need to be taken to effectively combat terrorism in Kenya and in the world? Those were some of the central questions debated by highly distinguished speakers during this year‘s Annual Law Conference held at the Strathmore University organized by the Strathmore Law School in collaboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung among others.

The Conference was officially opened by Hon. Joseph Nkaissery, Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government of the Republic of Kenya. Among the key speakers at the forum were Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Resident Representative of the UNDP and the Resident Coordinator of the UN system; Dr. Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Mr. Adama Dieng, Under Secretary of the UN and the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide; Prof. Joseph Weiler, the President of the European University Institute; Prof. Alex Whiting, Harvard University; Dr. Alex Schmid, Director of the Terrorism Research Institute-Vienna and a host of international scholars and practitioners .

Over the two days, academics, politicians, civil society representatives and other stakeholders from around the world deliberated on the topic “Terrorism: Challenges to emerging democracies in Africa”.

Inspired by keynote speeches of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Mr. Adama Dieng and the President of the European University Institute Professor Joseph Weiler, the debate circled around the question of the origin of terrorism. While some participants referred to global terrorism as a phenomenon which occurs across board regardless of the economic status and which is mainly driven by extreme ideology based on religion and coerced faith among other reasons; others understood economic inequality, social isolation and a missing national identity to be the root causes of radicalization and terror particularly in the context of Kenya and the region at large.

The manifold implications of global terrorism on domestic and international law sparked controversial and insightful debate. The speakers widely agreed that a terrorist act in itself as well as their prosecution pose great challenges to human rights. Whereas on the one hand, societies need to be protected from such cruel violent attacks, on the other hand, the extraordinary circumstances that come along with terrorism do not justify every means to fight them. It was underscored that human rights need to be respected at all times, not only for the sake of it but also to maintain the legitimacy of the prosecution.

It was generally agreed that societies and particularly the media should strengthen a counter-narrative that provides the young people with a perspective in life and elucidates that our liberal values are superior to the ideological violence of terrorism as one of the ways of combating this menace. Other ways of combating terrorism particularly in the context of Kenya and the region as identified by participants include, effective fight against corruption; enhancement of all inclusive, participatory and transparent governance framework; equal distribution of resources; respect for the law by all and forging of a unifying national identity.

In conclusion, it was noted that terrorism is a global challenge that requires concerted efforts of all people starting at the family level to the international level to effectively counter and combat it.

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Venue

Strathmore University, Nairobi

Publication

2nd International Annual Law Conference: Terrorism: Challenges to emerging democracies in Africa
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Contact

Dr. Arne Wulff

Dr

Director KAS Office Ghana

arne.wulff@kas.de +233 302 768629
Event Reports
August 7, 2015
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