Security Council - Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) - Legal issues

Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting focuses on how to criminalize terrorism

BMUSONI — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 19:43:00 +0000

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On 6 June 2024, the Counter-Terrorism Committee held an open briefing on the criminalization of terrorist offences and strengthening of international cooperation in bringing terrorists to justice. UN Photo/Loey Felipe

On Thursday, 6 June 2024, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) convened an open meeting to discuss the codification of the terrorist offence in Member State’s domestic criminal law.

In his opening statement, H.E. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, Chair of the CTC, noted that “resolution 1373 (2001), adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, imposed on all States an obligation to establish terrorist acts as serious criminal offences…and called upon all States to cooperate in preventing terrorism and in bringing terrorists to justice.” He went on to note that the Council has consistently called upon Member States to ensure that measures to counter terrorism comply with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.

Under-Secretary-General Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, noted that UNODC had “assisted Member States in drafting, revising, and adopting over 200 pieces of legislation to incorporate the provisions of these instruments into national legislation.”

Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) said that in order to enhance international cooperation, the international community should strive to reach a common understanding of what constitutes criminal conduct in criminalizing terrorism.

The event, which took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, brought together experts – including representatives from the International Association of Prosecutors and The International Criminal Police Organization, as well as United Nations entities – to discuss best practices in codifying the terrorist offence. Briefers highlighted the risk to human rights and hurdles to international cooperation posed by poorly worded offences.

The presentations highlighted CTED’s new publication, which contains a commentary on the codification of the terrorism offence. The commentary makes public for the first time the Counter-Terrorism Committee’s recommendations to States on the formulation of their terrorist offences. Those recommendations provide advice to States on the scope of the offence.

Briefers noted that domestic definitions of terrorism that depart from international instruments can have the effect of undermining international cooperation. Terrorism offences should be defined restrictively and with full respect for the principle of legality, so as to limit the potential for the misuse of counter-terrorism offences to undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Closing the meeting, H.E. Ambassador Amar Bendjama urged States to take the Committee’s recommendations seriously, and improve their codification of the terrorism offences required by Security Council resolutions.

The final concept note and agenda are available here.

You can watch the meeting here.

All photos are available here.

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CTED issues report on the interrelationship between counter-terrorism frameworks and international humanitarian law

BMUSONI — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:07:00 +0000

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On 10 January 2022, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) issued a study on “The interrelationship between counter-terrorism frameworks and international humanitarian law”.

The study, prepared in accordance with Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), builds on CTED’s engagement with Member States and other relevant stakeholders, including in the context of the country assessment visits conducted on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. It also benefits from a contribution by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which provided an anonymized analysis and synthesis of information collected from the humanitarian community on the impact of counter-terrorism measures on humanitarian operations conducted in situations of armed conflict where terrorist groups are active.

The study maps the references to international humanitarian law contained in Council resolutions addressing threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. Based on that mapping, the study explores (without seeking to provide an exhaustive analysis) two pertinent issues repeatedly addressed in the relevant resolutions: (i) the impact of counter-terrorism measures on humanitarian action carried out in armed conflict contexts in a manner consistent with international law; and (ii) the linkages between terrorism and serious violations of international humanitarian law, with a view to promoting comprehensive accountability for terrorist conduct.

The study is intended to serve as a basis for the discussion of issues relating to the intersection between counter-terrorism frameworks and international humanitarian law and ways to support Member States in their efforts to implement Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism in compliance with international humanitarian law.

CTED will build on this analysis with the aim of supporting the Committee’s work to promote implementation of the relevant Council resolutions in accordance with international humanitarian law. In this respect, CTED is committed to:

• Explore ways to continue to expand its dialogue within the United Nations system and with international and regional humanitarian actors on the interrelationship between counter-terrorism and international humanitarian law and on ways to ensure that all measures taken to counter terrorism comply with international law, including international humanitarian law.

• Make full use of the Committee’s assessment and stocktaking tools and its dialogue with Member States in order to further its assessment and thematic analysis, as well as to identify and promote relevant good practices.

• Continue its mainstreaming of international humanitarian law, as applicable and appropriate, into its assessment tools and thematic analysis, and facilitate the delivery of relevant technical assistance by United Nations entities.

• Continue to identify and assess issues, trends, and developments relating to the implementation of the relevant Council resolutions.

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Counter-Terrorism Committee adopts updated Global Surveys of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and other relevant resolutions and Security Council resolution 1624 (2005), respectively, by Member States

AKHVEDELID — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 14:06:00 +0000

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On 2 November 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Committee adopted the updated edition of its Global survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and other relevant resolutions by Member States, which is based on the assessment of States’ counter-terrorism efforts by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). Since 2005, CTED has visited 117 Member States and completed a total of 181 comprehensive, focused, regional and follow-up visits.

Regarded as the most comprehensive analytical documents on counter-terrorism in the UN system, the Committee’s Global implementation surveys (GIS) consider where progress has been made and where gaps remain and identify where the international community might most usefully focus its efforts. The surveys also contain global assessments of Member States’ efforts across all major thematic areas addressed by the relevant resolutions. They are updated every few years.

The nature of the global terrorist threat has continued to evolve since the publication of the previous edition of the survey, in 2016, compelling Member States to adapt their policies and approaches to address new challenges and existing gaps in their counter-terrorism measures. Those challenges include the evolution of the foreign terrorist fighter (FTF) threat; the rising threat of terrorism in conflict areas; the emergence of new terrorist methodologies; the growing threat of terrorist attacks on the basis of xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance, along with the growing emergence of some transnational linkages between such terrorist groups and, most recently, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 1373 GIS is a global analysis of the implementation of counter-terrorism measures by all Member States, examined on a regional basis using consistent criteria as an analytical tool. This edition introduces for the first time selected regional spotlights on issues in particular regions that deserve special attention based on a risk-based approach to analysis and the findings of CTED’s recent assessment visits. At the conclusion of each regional subsection, the survey provides a summary of some of the priority recommendations that the Committee has made to Member States since the previous survey to strengthen their implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). CTED hopes that these recommendations will also be useful for other international organizations and bilateral donors working in the field of counter-terrorism.

The Committee also adopted the updated edition of its Global survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1624 (2005) by Member States. The 1624 GIS was prepared by CTED pursuant to the request of the Security Council, contained in its resolution 2395 (2017), that CTED update the previous survey (S/2016/50), issued in January 2016. It contains a detailed regional overview of the steps taken by States to implement Security Council resolutions aimed at countering incitement to commit terrorist acts, violent extremism, and terrorist narratives, focusing primarily on the implementation of resolution 1624 (2005), which calls on all States to prohibit by law incitement to commit a terrorist act or acts. According to CTED’s analysis, as of 1 March 2021, 112 States had expressly criminalized incitement to commit a terrorist act or acts in their national legislation (compared with a figure of “at least 76 States”, as of 1 November 2015).

The survey notes that two other Security Council resolutions are directly relevant to the implementation of resolution 1624 (2005). Council resolution 2178 (2014), on the threat to international peace and security posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), contains a provision encouraging States to engage relevant local communities and non-governmental actors in developing strategies “to counter the violent extremist narrative that can incite terrorist acts”. It proposes that this can be achieved by addressing the conditions conducive to the spread of violent extremism, which can be conducive to terrorism, including by “empowering youth, families, women, religious, cultural and education leaders, and all other concerned groups of civil society”. This approach has come to be known as countering violent extremism (CVE).

The survey also takes into account Security Council resolution 2354 (2017), on the threat to international peace and security posed by terrorist narratives spread by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Daesh; Al-Qaida; and other terrorist groups. That resolution encourages States to develop programmes to counter terrorist narratives, stressing that States have the primary responsibility in countering terrorist acts and violent extremism conducive to terrorism and noting that counter-narrative efforts “can benefit through engagement with a wide range of actors, including youth, families, women, religious, cultural, and education leaders, and other concerned groups of civil society”.

An overview of the two surveys is available here.

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