Human Rights-Compliant Counterterrorism
Myth-making and Reality in the Philippines and Indonesia

A critical take on the convergence of human rights discourse with the counterterrorism agenda revealing its effects on developing countries.

Jayson S. Lamchek (Author)

9781108492331, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 December 2018

306 pages, 2 tables
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'This book a must-read for anyone interested in the fraught relationship between counterterrorism and human rights. Jayson S. Lamchek takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the complex workings of human rights and terrorism discourses in the Philippines and Indonesia. The book deftly weaves together theoretically rich analyses of state violence, law reform and social movement activism. Its implications for both scholarship and politics are wide-ranging. Lamchek makes a compelling argument for a radical overhaul of the idea of human rights-compliant counterterrorism, underscoring the need for a new approach that disentangles human rights from the never-ending 'War on Terror'.' Jeremy Farrall, Australian National University, Canberra

Since 9/11, we have lived in an age of counterterrorism in which the spectre of terrorism justifies increasingly repressive and violent measures. Against this backdrop, legal scholars and human rights advocates have encouraged integration of human rights into the discourse of counterterrorism as the best way to counter such repression and violence. This book challenges that received wisdom by showing the ambiguous effects of such converged discourse on developing countries. It highlights the effect of terrorism discourse on human rights in two developing countries, viz., the Philippines and Indonesia, the efforts of local advocates in resisting abuses in the name of counterterrorism, and the persistence of violations despite legal and policy reforms in those countries. Applying a novel analytic framework drawn from critical terrorism studies and critical international law, the book provokes new thinking on the future of human rights advocacy in the age of counterterrorism.

1. Introduction
2. Human rights-compliant counterterrorism: emergence and consequences
3. Counterinsurgency and the 'War on Terror' in the Philippines
4. Promoting human rights while rejecting counterterrorism: three Filipino campaigns
5. The anti-extrajudicial killings campaign and the government's response: failed remedy, changed rhetoric, continuing practice
6. Indonesian terrorism discourse from Suharto to Bali
7. Indonesia's legalised counterterrorism and divergent domestic reactions
8. The post-Bali legacy: Densus 88 and impunity for extrajudicial killings
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Terrorism law [LNFV], Human rights & civil liberties law [LNDC], International human rights law [LBBR], Human rights [JPVH], Politics & government [JP]