Outreach crucial to work of UN’s counter-terrorism bodies, Security Council told

The heads of the three subsidiary bodies set up under the Security Council to deal with counter-terrorism have stressed the vital role that outreach activities play as they seek to assist States in strengthening their responses to the global scourge of terrorism.

The Council’s 1267 (1999) Committee concerning Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions continues to “value greatly” its cooperation and interaction with Member States and international and regional organizations, its chairman, Ambassador Jan Grauls of Belgium, told the Council today.

“Enhancing the outreach efforts remains, therefore, an overall objective of the Committee,” he stressed.

Over the last six months, the Committee’s Monitoring Team has provided it with detailed reports on country visits, sanctions workshops and participation in several international seminars and other forums.

“Such trips offer an opportunity to explain in detail the work of the Committee and the Team, to answer questions concerning implementation and to discuss the objectives and mechanics of the sanctions regime and increase its impact,” Mr. Grauls stated.

Ambassador Jorge Urbina of Costa Rica noted that the same is true in the case of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) on combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) by non-State actors, particularly terrorists.

“The Committee has continued to rely on outreach activities to encourage and promote full implementation of resolution 1540,” he told the 15-member body.

Since May, the Committee’s members and experts have participated in meetings on relevant subjects ranging from the legal aspects of international instruments for countering terrorist acts in the nuclear, chemical or biological areas, to more specific topics such as proliferation financing, export controls and illicit trafficking in nuclear materials.

The two Committees have also cooperated with and coordinated their activities with the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), chaired by Ambassador Neven Jurica of Croatia.

One tangible example of this cooperation is organizing, together with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), sub-regional workshops on the preparation of reports to the three counter-terrorism committees. The third such workshop will be held next week in Nairobi, Kenya.

With regard to the CTC’s work, Mr. Jurica noted that “various activities in the past six months have shown that the Committee is a useful tool in the combat against terrorism.” Among its activities in the coming months, the Committee expects to pursue contacts with relevant countries to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance.