26 Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights Chapter Two: Learning from the Past 1. Introduction The Panel decided to explore how terrorism was tackled in the past. Even if certain aspects of the contemporary threat may be new, the use of terror tactics has long been a method of political and social struggle; is there any learning to be derived from those experiences? To hear directly about past efforts of counter-terrorism and their effect on society, the Panel held a Hearing in Northern Ireland,25 and a sub-regional Hearing in the Southern Cone,26  which covered the experiences of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Other country and sub-regional Hearings also provided relevant evidence to the Panel concerning the impact of past counterterrorism measures on human rights and the rule of law. In addition, the Panel has commented in this chapter on some countries which it did not visit, such as Peru, but which offer interesting insights into past experiences. The sessions surprised the Panel in two ways. First, there appeared to be a large number of parallels between past and contemporary concerns regarding both terrorism and counter-terrorism. There were continual resonances heard in the testimony received from these “backward-looking” Hearings, and from the testimony received about current dilemmas and experiences. Second, the Panel found it remarkable that these past lessons seem to have been largely ignored by governments in shaping their responses to terrorism since the September 11 attacks. Ignoring the past is, in the view of the Panel, misguided. This chapter will explore a series of issues: Are past experiences relevant to today’s counter-terrorism efforts? • Military responses to past terrorist campaigns; • Special counter-terrorism laws; • The longevity of emergency powers; • The impact on society of past counter-terrorist efforts; • Conclusions by the Panel. 25 EJP Northern Ireland Hearing, see Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), The “war on terror”: lessons from Northern Ireland, January 2008, final submission to the EJP, www.caj.org.uk (hereinafter: CAJ final submission). 26 See summary of the EJP Southern Cone Hearing for more references.