CTED and UNODC co-organize regional meeting on effective international judicial cooperation

BMUSONI — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 15:07:00 +0000

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Already in 2013, the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a process that focused on effective so-called central authorities in requests for extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. A central authority is an agency or organization that is designed to play a key facilitating role in the implementation and operation of international judicial cooperation. Since then, two regional gatherings have been held on this theme, with a third meeting recently arranged in Asia.

From 7 to 9 November 2017, CTED and UNODC co-organized a regional meeting for South and South-East Asian countries on international judicial cooperation in terrorist cases, including cases involving foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). This follows the adoption by the Security Council of resolution 2322 (2016), which reiterated the importance of international cooperation, and reminded Member States of the critical role played by central authorities in this respect.

Held in Kandooma, and hosted by the Government of the Maldives, the regional meeting’s opening remarks were delivered by the Minister of Defence and National Security, Honourable Adam Shareef Umar. Participants discussed challenges and possible solutions, including on the collection of digital evidence, and were requested to identify priority actions to be taken by their respective governments. Funded by the Governments of Canada and Japan, the regional meeting saw the participation of experts from Australia, Canada, and the United States, as well as representatives from INTERPOL, the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

An outcome document is in the process of being processed; it will be posted here as soon as it is available.

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CTED and UN Women partner in countering violent extremism in South and South-East Asia

BMUSONI — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:07:00 +0000

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South and South-East Asia are among the world’s regions most severely affected by the threats of terrorism and violent extremism, with South Asia often cited as the second most impacted region in the world. The Security Council has stressed that these threats can best be countered by a comprehensive, whole-of-society approach that seeks to develop partnerships between Governments and other social actors. It is also essential to integrate a gender perspective, which means engaging with women and girls, who bring an expanded range of insights, expertise, and experience and may be differentially affected. In accordance with Security Council resolution 2354 (2017), effective action also entails countering and responding to terrorist narratives, both on-line and off-line, through creative messaging initiatives that include a prominent role for civil society and the private sector actors, especially young people.

To address these challenges, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and UN Women held two regional workshops in Bangkok, Thailand, during the week of 25 to 29 September 2017 on the topic of “Engaging communities in approaches to countering violent extremism (CVE) and incitement in Asia.” The workshops, organized with the support of the Government of Japan, brought together Government officials, civil society representatives, and academic experts, and provided an opportunity to share good practices and recommendations from South and South-East Asia, as well as learn from one another’s experiences. The week also included a special day-long session guided by Facebook, Google, and the Bangkok-based non-governmental organisation Love Frankie on effective approaches to countering terrorist incitement and recruitment on-line“In countering violent extremism, all-of-society approaches and public-private-partnerships have never been so important. We need to identify and mobilize more community stakeholders and break down firewalls between the public and private sectors,” said Sué Takasu, Senior Legal Officer with CTED.

CTED has long been active in both South Asia and South-East Asia, working closely with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), respectively. CTED’s work in the field of CVE is guided by Security Council resolutions 1624 (2005), which calls upon Member States to prohibit and counter incitement to commit terrorist acts, and resolution 2178 (2014), which urges States to consider an inclusive approach to countering the threat of violent extremism, particularly with respect to stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). Meanwhile, Security Council resolution 2242 (2015) consolidates the mandate of UN Women to work in the areas of counter-terrorism and CVE. It further requests the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and CTED to integrate gender as a cross-cutting issue throughout the activities within their respective mandates, and it encourages the CTC and CTED to hold further consultations with women and women’s organizations to help inform their work.

Front Page Article:

Security Council - Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) - South and South-East Asia

CTED and UNODC co-organize regional meeting on effective international judicial cooperation

maldives_international_judicial_coop_7_9_nov_2017.jpg

CTED and UN Women partner in countering violent extremism in South and South-East Asia

bangkok_workshops_25_29_september_2017.jpg