Dr Tarik Gherbaoui LL.M.

Researcher

  • Department:
    Researchers
  • Research strand: In the public interest: accountability of the state and the prosecution of crimes
  • Main fields of interest: Counter-Terrorism EU Law International Criminal Law International Human Rights Law International Humanitarian Law Maritime Security New Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Public International Law

Profile

Tarik Gherbaoui is a researcher at the Asser Institute, where he has contributed to various initiatives within the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). His work has supported key initiatives including the Border Security Management (BSM) Initiative (led by the United States, UNOCT, and Jordan); the Watchlisting Guidance Manual Initiative (led by the United States and Jordan); the Maritime Security and Terrorist Travel Initiative (led by the United States and Jordan); the Initiative on Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE) (led by Norway and the United States); the Initiatives on Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) and New, Emerging, and Disruptive Technologies (led by the United Kingdom and the United States).

Tarik holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute (EUI), a Master of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge (Sidney Sussex College), and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Amsterdam. His doctoral research at the EUI focused on international and domestic legal responses to foreign terrorist fighters and was published as a monograph in 2025. He has held visiting research positions at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, and the University of Vienna. He was awarded a re:constitution Fellowship by the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin. Tarik serves as a senior editor of the European Journal of Legal Studies.

His professional experience includes traineeships at the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels; the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Embassy to Serbia and to Montenegro); the Defence Team of Jovica Stanišic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; and several international commercial law firms in Amsterdam and London.

Publications

Books

Gherbaoui, T. (2025). Europe’s Foreign Fighter Conundrum: Legal Responses, the Rule of Law, and Human Rights. T.M.C. Asser Press/Springer.

Van Ark, R., Gherbaoui, T. & Sexton, J.P. (Eds.) Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism in the Public Interest. T.M.C. Asser Press/Springer (forthcoming in late 2025).

Gherbaoui, T., & Bakker, F. (Eds.). (2025). Elementary International Law 2025. T.M.C. Asser Press.

Gherbaoui, T., & Bakker, F. (Eds.). (2023). Elementary International Law 2023. T.M.C. Asser Press.

Journal Articles, Book Chapters, and Online Publications

Gherbaoui, T. Foreign Fighters. In S Macdonald. K Vaughan & J Blackbourn (Eds.), Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Terrorism Law. Edward Elgar (forthcoming in 2026).

Van Ark, R. & Gherbaoui, T. (2024). Excessive Judicial Deference as Rule of Law Backsliding: When National Security and Effective Rights Protection Collide. Utrecht Law Review, 20 (3), 26-41.

Gherbaoui, T., & Scheinin, M. (2023). A dual challenge to human rights law: Online terrorist content and governmental orders to remove it. European Journal of Human Rights, 1, 3-29.

Paulussen, C., & Gherbaoui, T. (2022). Trials in absentia of foreign fighters and their families?. ICCT Perspective.

Gherbaoui, T., & Scheinin, M. (2022). Time to rewrite the EU Directive on combating terrorism. Verfassungsblog.

Gherbaoui, T. (2020). Criminalising foreign fighter travel in order to prevent terrorism in Europe: An illegitimate assault on human dignity? In C. Paulussen & M. Scheinin (Eds.), Human Dignity and Human Security in Times of Terrorism (pp. 241–267). T.M.C. Asser Press/Springer.

Gherbaoui, T. (2019). Book review: Manfred Weber and Anne Charbord (Eds.), Using Human Rights to Counter Terrorism (Edward Elgar, 2018). European Journal of Legal Studies, 11(2), 163–171.

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