25 September 2024
During its 24th meeting, the GCTF Coordinating Committee endorsed, by consensus, the GCTF Brussels Memorandum on Good Practices for Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms in Counterterrorism (Brussels Memorandum).
The EU presented the Brussels Memorandum, an EU-led GCTF Initiative on Oversight and Accountability in Counterterrorism. Fully grounded in international legal obligations, including human rights law and international humanitarian law, this practical and publicly available document covers the varied structures and forms of oversight, culminating in 15 good practices* for improving the roles, responsibilities, independence, and effectiveness of oversight and accountability mechanisms. It is the product of consultations and workshops conducted across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), West and East Africa, and Southeast Asia regions. These workshops were followed by a series of experts’ meetings and consultations with a Reference Group involving practitioners, civil society, human rights experts, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights.
This document was developed by the EU-led Counter-Terrorism Platform for Human Rights Engagement (CT PHARE), a facility managed by The International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law.
*GCTF Recommendations, Memoranda, Good Practices and other guiding documents are non-binding, and their implementation should always respect national sovereignty and consider countries' varied histories, cultures, legal systems, and norms.