51吃瓜

The visiting delegation, led by CTED, during its consultation visit to Australia.

In November 2022, the 51吃瓜 Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) concluded consultation visits to Australia and to New Zealand, following invitations by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) of New Zealand, respectively. These visits were aimed at exchanging information on counter-terrorism developments in the two countries, following assessment visits of Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee in July 2018.

In Australia, the Government highlighted the expected adoption of a new counter-terrorism strategy, which would detail the priorities for the next five years, including responses to terrorist attacks on the basis of xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance, or in the name of religion or belief (XRIRB), as well as strengthening international cooperation and preventing terrorism. Australia further informed the visiting CTED delegation on two key pieces of domestic legislation that had been adopted in 2019 and 2021, respectively, on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online while still acknowledging an individual’s freedom of speech and on the universality of the Internet.

In New Zealand, the Government underscored that the country’s national security system had changed since the Christchurch attack on 15 March 2019, which was the most significant terrorist attack in New Zealand’s modern history. Two major developments were highlighted: (1) the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry — generally reserved for matters of the gravest public importance — to investigate whether any change could be made to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future; and (2) the adoption, in 2021, of its Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism strategy, whose focus is to prevent terrorism and violent extremism by combatting radicalization to violence in all forms and to build a society that is safe, diverse, and inclusive, in which all individuals and groups have a sense of belonging, inclusion, participation, recognition, and legitimacy.

It was agreed that both Australia and New Zealand would brief the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2023 on the progress made in the implementation of the Committee’s country assessment recommendations based on the 2018 visits.