Introduction

Following the terrorist attacks perpetrated first against the United States and later against Spain and the United Kingdom, action at international level to combat terrorism has grown steadily. Such action has been taken at both United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) level in forms previously unknown in the field of international cooperation. In particular, both the UN and the EU have taken upon themselves the task of identifying organisations and individuals that are to be considered as terrorists by international and national communities alike. This process of identification of who or what should be considered a ‘terrorist’ occurs entirely in executive fora, thus challenging presumptions which have characterised post-war Western democracies as to the division of competences between executive, legislature and judiciary, as well as deeply affecting established systems of checks and balances. Furthermore, such evolution in intergovernmental action has not been matched by a corresponding evolution in the system of judicial protection. Thus, whilst international cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism activity might well be vital to ensure an effective response to the terrorist threat, international organisations are ill equipped, as things stand, to guarantee even the more basic rights of individuals and organisations that are targeted through international instruments.