ICCL and the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) will host a conference titled ‘Police Surveillance North and South: Covert Intelligence, Facial Recognition Technology, Oversight and Human Rights’ on Tuesday 24 October at the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin, from 9am to 5pm.
The conference aims to bring together stakeholders to discuss the current and future landscape of covert policing on the island of Ireland, through the lens of human rights.
This event is the second in a series of events co-hosted by ICCL and CAJ, each with the aim of discussing a different thematic aspect of policing.
The timing of this conference is particularly apt as generational police reforms in the Republic following recommendations by the Commission on the Future of Policing are entering a critical phase, with legislation on the restructured oversight mechanisms and expanded police powers to track and monitor people’s movements and use surveillance devices and systems such as drones and facial recognition technology, currently moving forward through the Oireachtas. Meanwhile, in the North, there have been concerns regarding the rollback of human rights-based policing, including public order and Covid-19 policing, and legacy cases.
This event is free and you can register to attend on Eventbrite.
Agenda
Police Surveillance North and South:
Covert Intelligence, Facial Recognition Technology, Oversight and Human Rights
Tuesday 24 October 2023, 9am -5pm
Royal College of Physicians Ireland, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2
9:00 – 9:20: Registration and Networking
9:20 – 9:30: Welcome and Introduction
- Speaker: Doireann Ansbro (Head of Legal and Policy, ICCL)
9:30 – 10:45: Keynote Plenary
- Speakers:
o Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney (Investigative journalists)
o Baroness Nuala O’Loan (First Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, 1999-2007)
o David Kaye (Former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, 2014-2020)
10:45 – 11:00: Coffee, Tea and Networking Break
11:00 – 12:15: Panel 1: Covert Intelligence
- Chair: Daniel Holder (Director, CAJ)
- Speakers:
o John Wadham (Human Rights Advisor, Northern Ireland Policing Board)
o Alyson Kilpatrick BL (Chief Commissioner, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
12:15 – 13:15: Lunch
13:15 – 14:30: Panel 2: Facial Recognition Technology
- Chair: Dr Elizabeth Farries (Co-Director and Assistant Professor, Centre for Digital Policy, University College Dublin)
- Speakers:
o Dr Abeba Birhane (Senior Advisor in AI Accountability, Mozilla Foundation, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Trinity College Dublin)
o Dr Daragh Murray (Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University School of Law)
14:30 – 14:45 : Coffee, Tea and Networking Break
14:45-15:00: Video and introduction on women’s experience of national security operations
- Amie Gallagher (Focus Project, Creggan Enterprises)
15:00 – 16:15: Panel 3: Policing Oversight
- Chair: Prof. Donncha O’Connell (Professor of Law, University of Galway, and former member of the Commission on the Future of Policing)
- Speakers:
o Prof. Marie Breen-Smyth (Independent Reviewer of Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 and Independent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements for Northern Ireland)
o Jonathan Hall KC (UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation)
16:15- 16:35: Conclusion and Wrap-Up
- Dr Maria Murphy (Associate Professor, Maynooth University)
ICCL’s ‘Policing for Peace’ project is supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. This event is supported by the Community Foundation and Community Foundation Northern Ireland programme.