Meeting on Terrorism

Expected Council Action
As Council president in September, Turkey (which also chairs the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee) is planning to convene a debate late in September on counter-terrorism. The country’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is expected to preside. A presidential statement is a possible outcome.

Background
Security Council Report will publish an Update Report closer to the date of the debate when more details become available.

At press time, discussions of the format and focus of the debate were ongoing. Turkey has in addition begun wider consultations bearing in mind the General Assembly’s review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy that is scheduled to occur on 8 September 2010 in order to ensure that outcomes of the Council debate demonstrate coherence with the General Assembly strategy. (The strategy, adopted on 20 September 2006, has four pillars: measures to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; measures to prevent and combat terrorism; measures to build state capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the UN system in that regard; and measures to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law.)

The Council’s three counter-terrorism committees (the 1267 Committee on Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions, the 1373 Committee or Counter-Terrorism Committee [CTC] and the 1540 Committee on weapons of mass destruction and terrorism) all regularly report to the Council. Counter-terrorism has also been the focus of a number of thematic Council debates.

For example, on 12 November 2001 Jamaica and the Ukraine sponsored a ministerial-level Council meeting to discuss terrorism. Resolution 1377, which called on states to fully implement resolution 1373 (adopted just days after the terrorist attacks in the US in September that year) and the CTC to explore ways in which implementation assistance could be provided to states, was unanimously adopted at the meeting.

On 20 January 2003 France convened a ministerial-level public debate on combating terrorism. Following the debate the Council adopted resolution 1456 urging all states to prevent and suppress all support to terrorism.

On 14 September 2005, at the time of the World Summit, the Philippines convened a meeting of Council members at the head-of-state or ministerial level on preventing the incitement of terrorism. Resolution 1624 was unanimously adopted, calling on states to adopt measures to prohibit and prevent incitement of terrorist acts.

On 9 December 2008 Croatia convened an open debate on global security and international terrorism. Following the debate the Council adopted a presidential statement reaffirming its determination to combat threats to international peace and security caused by acts of terrorism and emphasising the central role of the UN in that endeavour.

Key Issues
A key goal will be to reassert Council unity that terrorism remains a threat to international peace and security and to reaffirm the Council’s ongoing commitment to addressing that threat.

Another key issue will be ensuring that the Council’s role on counter-terrorism is in practice broadly aligned with the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Options
Council members are likely to be discussing options for a presidential statement following the debate. 

Council and Wider Dynamics
Most Council members appear supportive of convening a thematic debate on counter-terrorism at this time. Viewed in the overall context of Council counter-terrorism activities, the debate is seen by some as both a timely contribution to past consideration of counter-terrorism issues and as an event that may provide an opportunity for members to begin thinking about the mandate renewal at the end of this year of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED, which supports the CTC). 

Full Forecast