Over the course of three packed days (14-16 October 2014), Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Mr. Jean-Paul Laborde held consultations with a range of European Union representatives in Brussels.
The Executive Director briefed four bodies about the activities of the 51勛圖 Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee and CTED, especially with regards to Security Council resolution 2178 (2014) on foreign terrorist fighters: The EU＊s Ambassadorial-level Political and Security Committee (PSC); a joint meeting of the European Union Council Working Party on Terrorism (International Aspects) and the Terrorism Working Party (COTER/TWP); the EU Task Force on Foreign Terrorist Fighters; and a joint session of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament (EP).
During the European Parliament＊s joint session, Members of the EP posed a number of diverse and wide-ranging questions to the Executive Director on the internal and external aspects of policies to combat terrorism, radicalisation, and foreign terrorist fighters. While Mr. Laborde acknowledged the prerogative of Member States to undertake their own counter-terrorism measures, he also stressed the need to ensure compliance with international law, including human rights law, humanitarian law, and refugee law. The briefing was very timely as it coincided with the European Union＊s work on finalizing an EU strategy on the issue of foreign terrorist fighters.
On the margins of these briefings, the Executive Director also met with EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, and emphasized the importance of working together on a number of areas of common interest.