Counter Terrorism: Briefing to Commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks and Adoption of Presidential Statement
This afternoon (11 September), the Security Council will hold an open briefing under the “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts” agenda item. France, the Council’s president in September, is convening the meeting to mark 25 years since the 11 September 2001 attacks perpetrated by Al-Qaida against the US, which killed almost 3,000 people and injured many others. Briefings are expected from the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), Natalia Gherman; the Director for Policy and Coordination at the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), Eihab Omaish; and the Executive Director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Naureen Chowdhury Fink. The Security Council is also expected to adopt a French-authored presidential statement on counter-terrorism that the Council agreed to yesterday (10 September).
Today’s Meeting
France circulated a concept note to Council members ahead of today’s briefing. It apparently describes the 9/11 attacks, which took place during France’s September 2001 presidency, as a pivotal moment in the Council’s engagement on counter-terrorism. On 28 September 2001, the Council adopted resolution 1373, defining the obligations of states to prevent and suppress terrorism and establishing the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) to monitor state compliance with these provisions. In March 2004, the Council adopted resolution 1535, which established CTED as a special political mission to assist the CTC in its work. It seems that the concept note also mentions the robust normative framework established by the Security Council in the 25 years since the adoption of resolution 1373, as well as its work to strengthen international cooperation on counter-terrorism, to combat the financing of terrorism, and restrict the movements of terrorists.
According to the concept note, despite these efforts, terrorism remains one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, as terrorist groups adapt and continue to expand across every continent. In organising today’s meeting, France apparently sought to provide Council members with an opportunity to assess the current state of the terrorist threat and to create momentum for the Council to be more proactive on counter-terrorism. It seems that France has chosen to particularly focus on new technologies, noting that this is one of the most important challenges in the field and a topic on which the Council has had limited engagement.
In discussing the evolving nature of the terrorist threat, the briefers and many Council members are likely to address terrorists’ misuse of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), drones, and satellite communications. The Secretary-General’s 23rd biannual strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) to international peace and security, dated 31 July, observed that AI has become a recurring feature of terrorist activity, with investigations uncovering its use to select targets, conduct counter-surveillance, and evade law enforcement.
Gherman might mention CTED’s latest report on the evolution of terrorist propaganda, published yesterday, which describes how terrorist groups use a diverse ecosystem of platforms and digital services to produce and disseminate content. The report highlights the growing use of AI by terrorists to enhance recruitment, including to tailor messaging to specific audiences, as well as the increasing targeting of children and young people through digital platforms.
International efforts to respond to the terrorist threat are another expected focus of today’s meeting. Omaish may stress that security measures to counter terrorism must be accompanied by prevention efforts that focus on addressing conditions that terrorists use to incite people to violence. Omaish and several Council members are also expected to emphasise the importance of whole-of-society partnerships—including with civil society, women, youth, and victims of terrorism—in order to build resilience against extremist narratives as well as the need for respect for international law in counter-terrorism efforts.
Fink is expected to highlight the need for multilateral approaches given the global nature of the terrorist threat and stress the continued importance of human rights as the Security Council develops its responses. She may also advocate for a more proactive approach from the Council in addressing evolving threats and trends, including emerging tech technologies such as generative AI, emphasising in this regard the importance of public-private partnerships.
In addition to highlighting the risk posed by terrorism in certain regions, Council members might address several priority areas concerning counter-terrorism, including its intersection with maritime security and transnational organised crime. Some members may emphasise the need to ensure the effective implementation of relevant Security Council sanctions regimes and stress in this regard the need to resolve the impasse around the allocation of subsidiary body chairs. (For more information on Council dynamics on counter-terrorism, see our 4 August What’s in Blue story.)
Presidential Statement
The draft presidential statement draws in large part on agreed language from previous Security Council products on counter-terrorism, while also adding several new elements regarding the use of new technologies. Among other things, it reaffirms the Council’s unequivocal condemnation of the 9/11 attacks and condemns all acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever, and by whomever committed. The agreed text also reaffirms the importance of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to countering terrorism, emphasising the importance of cooperation with relevant stakeholders, particularly civil society, and encouraging in this regard the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and youth in this process.
The new elements introduced by France include text expressing concern about the increased use by terrorists of the internet and other information and communications technologies (ICTs) for purposes such as recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts. The agreed presidential statement voices concern about the misuse of new financial instruments, including virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies, for terrorist purposes. It also expresses the Council’s intention to address the challenges posed by the misuse of technologies for terrorist purposes as well as opportunities offered by these technologies in counter-terrorism efforts, consistent with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law, in its future resolutions related to counter-terrorism.
It seems that France hopes that the presidential statement will serve to reinvigorate the Council’s work on the counter-terrorism file and will be a first step in a more serious engagement on the intersection between terrorism and emerging technologies.
The negotiations were apparently generally constructive, although some aspects of the text required discussion before the necessary consensus could be reached among Council members. France circulated the initial draft of the presidential statement on 31 August and convened two rounds of negotiations on the text, on 2 and 4 September. The penholder placed the second revised draft of the text under silence until 8 September, which Pakistan, Russia, and Somalia broke. A third revised draft was put under silence until the next day (9 September), resulting in silence breaks from Pakistan and Russia. France put a fourth revised draft under silence until yesterday morning, which Russia broke. After making amendments, the penholder circulated a fifth draft of the text, which passed silence yesterday evening.
It seems that one contentious aspect of the negotiations concerned a request by Pakistan to include an explicit reference to the threat posed by terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the region such as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K). Many members apparently preferred to only retain general references to ISIL and Al-Qaida, expressing concern that adding references to the TTP and ISIL-K would open questions about what other groups and regions should be referenced in the text. For instance, it seems that some Council members, including African members, noted that if the scope of the text is broadened then it should also reference Africa, considering the severe threat posed by ISIL on the continent. In an attempt to reach compromise, the penholder added in the second revised draft language expressing concern about the continued presence of terrorist groups all over the world, in particular in Afghanistan, Africa, and the Middle East.
This proposal apparently did not satisfy Pakistan, which broke silence on the second and third revised drafts. To address this member’s concerns, the penholder added a reference to the TTP in the fourth revised draft. This prompted Russia to break silence over that draft, maintaining that the language was too specific for a general presidential statement that is supposed to mark the 9/11 attacks and to have a global scope. In an apparent compromise, the agreed presidential statement expresses concern about the continued presence of terrorist groups associated with ISIL, Al-Qaida, and their affiliates across the world, including ISIL-K and the TTP in Afghanistan, ISIL affiliates and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in Africa, as well as ISIL and Al-Qaida affiliates in the Middle East.
There was also apparently discussion on how to depict the UN’s counter-terrorism architecture. It seems that Russia requested the addition of language that would highlight the leadership role of UNOCT. Other Council members, including European members, apparently opposed such a formulation, expressing concern that this could be interpreted as an encroachment on the mandate of other bodies such as CTED. It seems that there were similar dynamics on this issue during the negotiations on the ninth review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which the General Assembly adopted on 1 July.
Russia broke silence on the first two revised drafts because its request was not accommodated. The penholder attempted to reach compromise by adding in the third revised draft language underscoring the importance of strong coordination and cooperation between CTED and UNOCT, as they work within their mandates to ensure effective engagement with member states. This apparently still did not satisfy Russia. Eventually, the penholder decided to completely remove the paragraph concerning the UN’s counter-terrorism architecture to achieve compromise.
It seems that Russia also requested the deletion of all the language on emerging technologies that was proposed by the penholder in the zero draft. Russia apparently argued that there are diverging views on the issue and expressed a preference to not address it in a Security Council text. In an apparent compromise, the penholder removed some paragraphs on emerging technologies while retaining others. In particular, a paragraph that expressed concern about the misuse of AI by terrorists and noted the opportunities this tool presents for counter-terrorism efforts was removed. It seems that during the negotiations, Russia argued that AI is an issue that is more properly addressed by the General Assembly and therefore did not agree to the inclusion of the issue in a Security Council product.
Some elements were added to the text at the request of some Council members. For instance, based on a proposal by Greece that was supported by several other members, such as Panama, the agreed presidential statement underscores the need for member states to strengthen their criminal justice, law enforcement and border-control capacities, including maritime and aviation safety and security against terrorist activities in the maritime and air domains. At the apparent request of some African members, language was added on the importance of strengthening national capacities for the implementation of Council resolutions. Text on foreign terrorist fighters was also incorporated based on a request by China.
