Closing the ‘Intangible Technology Transfer’ Gap within the Existing Legal Frameworks: Time for an Additional Protocol(s)?
Katja L. H. Samuel, Cássius Guimarães Chai · Groningen Journal of International Law · 2018
The current terrorism landscape poses increasing, diverse levels of threat, with accompanying complex and challenging counter-terrorism responses, as terrorist groups (TGs) become more global in their reach, creative in their methods, as well as more connected to organized criminal groups (OCGs).One concerning trend, in at least some geographical regions, is increased cooperation between OCGs and TGs or even convergence whereby the level of integration between the two groups is such that it is difficult to discern the parameters between them.Such cooperation or convergence can put existing applicable legal frameworks under strain, highlighting or even creating normative gaps in the process.In turn, these may hinder effective international cooperation, including in the domains of legal terrorism prevention and criminal justice responses to organized criminal and terrorist activities, thereby posing significant threats to international peace and security.The related risks, together with the accompanying challenges and complexities for the international community to effectively counter such threats, are increasing exponentially via rapid technological advances, notably "emerging technologies".These are aggravated by the fact that applicable legal instruments (international, regional and national) have generally not managed to keep pace with such technological advances and associated risks.One such area relates to intangible technology transfer (ITT) by OCGs and TGs, which incorporates manufacturing techniques, technical know-how and intellectual property, and can take a number of forms such as the electronic transfer of weapons blueprints.A particular issue, considered in this article, relates to the potential for OCGs/TGs to acquire "dual use" technology (i.e., technology with the potential to be used for both * Director, Global Security and Disaster Management Limited (GSDM) ([email protected]).The authors are very grateful for the undertaking of an excellent literature review of a number of issues explored in this article, with some accompanying suggestions, by Dr Jed Odermatt, University of Copenhagen and GSDM associate.This article is based on a paper given at a conference organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Qatar University, 'International Academic Conference: Exploring and Countering the Linkages between Organized Crime and Terrorism', Qatar 25-26 April 2018.The authors were most grateful for the opportunity to participate in this timely conference as well as for the feedback received on the draft paper.Informative comments were also received from Dr Elizabeth Chadwick (