Global perspective Human stories

Security Council counter-terrorism panel to meet in Kazakhstan

Security Council counter-terrorism panel to meet in Kazakhstan

Amb. Andrey I. Denisov
The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) will hold a meeting of representatives from international and regional organizations in Kazakhstan later this month to strengthen the global anti-terrorism network and will make its first visit to a Member State during the quarter, the panel's chairman told the Security Council today.

Briefing the Council on plans for the Committee's 14th quarter, covering January to March of this year, and also outlined in a six-page letter, Ambassador Andrey Denisov of the Russian Federation said the meeting would take place from 26 to 28 January in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The CTC had received 551 reports, 191 first reports from all UN Member States, six from other entities, and the remainder being second, third and fourth reports from various countries, he told the Council, under the presidency for January of Argentine Ambassador César Mayoral.

Mr. Denisov added, however, that 75 countries had missed submission deadlines and were creating problems for the inadequately staffed CTC Executive Directorate.

Besides, effective monitoring of counter-terrorism resolutions called for more than reviewing reports. It also needed recommendations and technical assistance. In that regard, the Executive Directorate's experts were drafting their first assessments to several Member States, Mr. Denisov said.

In his presidential statement of response on behalf of the Council, Mr. Mayoral said the Council should pursue the agenda outlined.

The CTC should ensure that its Executive Directorate would soon become fully operational and it should "take additional measures to enhance cooperation with the Al-Qaeda/Taliban Sanctions Committee" and with the Security Council's "1540 committee" on nuclear non-proliferation, as well as initiate contacts with the Council committee considering additional anti-terrorist sanctions, Mr. Mayoral said.

The statement also called on the 75 States to urgently submit their reports, "in order to maintain the universality of response which the threat of terrorism and the implementation of resolution 1373 require."

That text, adopted in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks against the United States, places wide-ranging obligations on the part of countries to prevent, fight and prosecute terrorist acts, as well as to make periodic reports.

image

Video of Council meeting [2hrs 28mins]