Counter-Terrorism Committee briefs Western European States affected by FTF phenomenon

BMUSONI — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 16:13:00 +0000

The Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee held an informal open briefing on foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) for affected States of Western Europe and the European Union.

“Attacks carried out in Europe over the past two years have shown that no region is safe from the threat and that terrorists have the capacity to circumvent even the most advanced and sophisticated technologies and other counter-terrorism measures,” said H.E. Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Chair of the Committee and Permanent Representative of Egypt.

The briefing, held on 27 March, was the fourth in a series of informal regional briefings for Security Council and non-Security Council States.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) shared its primary findings on the situation in the region, based on the Council’s second and third reports on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2178 (2014) by Western European States affected by FTFs (S/2015/683 and S/2015/975) and recent developments.

CTED noted that the assessed Western European States had made great progress, but that persistent challenges remained.

Western European Member States and the European Union expressed their support for the work of the Committee and CTED.

The participating States highlighted concrete measures taken at the national and regional levels in implementing resolution 2178 (2014) in response to the FTF threat, focussing on good practices and concrete challenges, including in relation to FTFs returning to their States of origin.

They also stressed the importance of timely bilateral, regional, international and cross-regional information-sharing and cooperation in countering violent extremism, as well as the need to address the FTF phenomenon through a comprehensive approach that engaged a wide range of relevant stakeholders within the framework of a human rights and rule-of-law based approach.

“We look forward to conducting further assessment visits to Member States of Western Europe, on behalf of the Committee, in order to share our findings with practitioners and gather their good practices in countering terrorism”, said CTED Deputy Executive Director Mr. Weixiong Chen.

“CTED provides a vital hub for the dissemination of good practices to States that may not have established bilateral cooperation with the States concerned”, he added.

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Counter-Terrorism Committee briefs Western European States affected by FTF phenomenon