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Illegal advocacy in collaboration with foreign intelligence services [Article in Norwegian]
Prof. John Winterdyk will speak for the research group on November 18th
What is the proper balance between security and fundamental personal freedoms?
Prof. John Winterdyk will speak for the research group on November 18th
On November 18th, Professor John Winterdyk will speak on the subject of “Red Light human trafficking: The elusive enigma of modern-day slavery” for the research group on Crime Control and Security Law. Winterdyk is a professor in criminology at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada.
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What is the proper balance between security and fundamental personal freedoms?
A new interdisciplinary research group based at the Faculty of Law is trying to find the answer.
The research group "Crime Control and Security Law" is led by Nandor Knust, associate professor at the Faculty of Law. During the inaugural meeting of the research group Knust highlights that the raison d’être of public authority, that is, the safeguarding of freedom and human dignity of the individuals, is reflected in the concepts of the social contract and the rule of law. The fundamental idea of the concept of the social contract is for the state to ensure security for its citizens. In a liberal democracy this must be done in a way that does not disproportionally interfere with certain fundamental rights, he says.
In the face of threats to society, most people think that it is acceptable for the state to intervene into fundamental rights of the individuals to ensure security and social order. Knust points out that the problem even multiplies when it comes to safeguarding fundamental rights in a society that is under constant threat, from, for example, terrorism or a global pandemic. How, then, to balance on the one side the security of the individuals and of the society as a whole; and on the other side the protection of fundamental rights, freedoms and privacy?
When talking about security in 2021, one cannot escape digitalization and new technologies. Therefore, founding member of the research group on crime control and security law is Dag Johansen and his team of the UIT research group of cyber security. Dag Johansen is a professor at the Department of Computer Science at UiT and is one of the research groups computer savvy members. He points out that typically a technology comes into use years before the legislation that is intended to regulate its use.
- Our vision must be to close this gap between technology and legislation, Johansen states.
In addition to gathering researchers from many different institutions and projects, such as the Max Planck Otto Hahn Research Group on Alternative and Informal Systems of Crime Control and Criminal Justice and the law faculty of the University of Bergen. The group has also strong collaborations with actors outside academia, including The Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organization and Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge. - This gives us a unique opportunity to test our theories in practice, Knust points out.
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