UN counter-terrorism experts to visit Kenya

United Nations counter-terrorism experts are set to travel next week to Kenya for the second in a series of country visits to take stock of the worldwide fight against the menace.

Javier Rupérez, Executive Director of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee’s Executive Directorate (CTED), will lead the group on its five-day visit to the East African country. A similar team went in March to Morocco.

The purpose of country visits is to establish direct contact with the various departments and officials in charge of counter-terrorism efforts to assess how Member States implement the obligations of Security Council resolution 1373, which was adopted in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks against the United States.

The text requires countries to implement a number of measures to enhance their legal and institutional capacity to be in a better position to counter terrorist activities nationally, regionally and globally.

It calls on Member States to deny all forms of financial support for terrorist groups, suppress the provision of safe haven, sustenance or support for terrorists, share information with other governments on any groups practising or planning terrorist acts, and cooperate with other governments in the investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution of those involved in such acts.

It also enjoins them to criminalize active and passive assistance for terrorism in domestic laws and bring violators of these laws to justice, and to become party as soon as possible to the relevant international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.