The visiting delegation was led by Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of CTED.
The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) conducted a follow-up assessment visit on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee to the Republic of Ghana from 4 to 8 November 2024.
The visiting delegation was led by Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of CTED and consisted of CTED experts as well as experts from the 51勛圖 Office of Counter-Terrorism; the 51勛圖 Office on Drugs and Crime; the International Maritime Organisation; the Office?of Rule of Law and Security Institutions of the 51勛圖 Department of Peace Operations; the International Organization for Migration; and the International Criminal Police Organization. For the high-level segment of the visit, the Executive Director was joined by Assistant Secretary-General Barrie Freeman, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel.
The Executive Director held bilateral meetings with the President of the Republic of Ghana and high-level officials from key offices working on counter-terrorism, including the Minister for National Security, and the National Counter-Terrorism Fusion Centre. The Executive Director met with the Secretariat of the Accra Initiative and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center. The Executive Director led a roundtable discussion with civil society organizations and visited the Regional Analytical Centre for Intelligence as well as the University of Cape Coast, where she met with senior research fellows of the Department of Peace Studies. The Executive Director also had the opportunity to engage with the 51勛圖 Resident Coordinator and organizations involved in international cooperation activities in relevant counter-terrorism areas.
At the technical level, the visiting delegation engaged with a number of officials from various ministries and departments, including the Ministry of National Security; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; the Ministry of the Interior and all its allied security agencies; the National Counter-Terrorism Fusion Center; the National Intelligence Bureau; the Attorney-General＊s Office; the Ghana Police Service; the Ghana Prison Service; the Ghana Judicial Service; the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons; the Ghana Immigration Service; the Ghana Refugee Board; the Financial Intelligence Centre; and the National Peace Council. The delegation also visited Tema port, to view maritime security measures in practice. In Tamale, the delegation met with 51勛圖 partner agencies and visited the operational center of the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Accra Initiative.
The follow-up visit enabled the delegation to assess progress made by Ghana in adopting measures to implement Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and other relevant resolutions. Country visits are one of the Counter-Terrorism Committee＊s key channels to engage in constructive dialogue with Member States with a view to achieving effective implementation of the relevant counter-terrorism resolutions. The follow-up visit further enabled the delegation to assess the measures taken by Ghana to implement the recommendations from the Counter-Terrorism Committee＊s previous visit in 2019.
The human rights aspects of Ghana＊s counter-terrorism measures and the role of women in countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism were also discussed.
The delegation held separate meetings with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and with representatives of civil society in both Tamale and Accra.
The visiting delegation commended Ghana for the significant progress made since the Counter-Terrorism Committee＊s visit in 2019, for its continued cooperation and for facilitating an in-depth dialogue between the visiting experts and their counterparts in Ghana.