have themselves been criticized for their politicization and arbitrariness.69 When individuals are labelled FTFs according to national lists of terrorist organizations, similar concerns apply depending on how such designations are made and what human rights safeguards are in place to prevent abuse. A report of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) on FTFs drew attention to this problem by calling for the “adoption of procedures to make national terrorist designations in compliance with human rights principles”.70 • Absent an international definition of terrorism, it is crucial that definitions by national authorities are clear and confined to conduct that might, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, be of a “genuinely terrorist nature”.71 While there is no universally accepted definition in international law, UNSC Resolution 1566, adopted in 2004, provides some parameters that states should be guided by in elaborating clear definitions in national laws and regulations.72 On the basis of those parameters the UN Special Rapporteur has recommended that terrorist offences should be confined to: (1) Acts committed with the intention of causing death or serious bodily injury, or the taking of hostages; (2) For the purpose of provoking a state of terror, intimidating a population, or compelling a government or international organization to do or abstain from a specific act; and that (3) Constitute offences under the international conventions and protocols related to terrorism.73 The FTF label should be limited to acts that meet those core elements of “terrorism”’ too. 69  For concerns about international listing see: e.g., the following cases considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR): Nada v. Switzerland, ECtHR, Judgment of 12 September 2012; Al-Dulimi and Montana Management Inc. v. Switzerland, ECtHR, Judgment of 21 June 2016; and Sayadi & Vinck v. Belgium, CCPR, Views adopted on 22 October 2008, UN Doc. CCPR/C/94/D/1472/2006. 70  See: UNCTED 2016, Implementation of Security Council resolution 2178 (2014), para. 158(b), op. cit., note 62. This comment was made in the context of seeking to strengthen the use of asset-freezing mechanisms, in accordance with UNSC resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1373 (2001) to disrupt terrorist activity, but it also applies in this context. 71  UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, Report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, UN Doc. E/ CN.4/2006/98, 28 December 2005, para. 42. 72  UNSC Resolution 1566 para. 3 “Recalls that criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act, and all other acts which constitute offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism, are under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature, and calls upon all States to prevent such acts and, if not prevented, to ensure that such acts are punished by penalties consistent with their grave nature.” 73  UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/98, para. 42, op. cit., note 71. For a proposed model definition of terrorism based on those criteria see UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, Report to the UN Human Rights Council (“Ten areas of best practices in countering terrorism”), UN Doc. A/ HRC/16/51, 22 December 2010, para. 28. On the definition of terrorism see: Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism: A Community Policing Approach, (Vienna: OSCE, 2014), pp. 27-30, <https://www.osce.org/atu/111438> (hereafter, Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism, OSCE). Guidelines for Addressing the Threats and Challenges of “Foreign Terrorist Fighters” 23