Security Council - Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) - South Asia

CTC holds open briefing on the work of CTED with Member States of South and South-East Asia pursuant to Security Council resolution 2395 (2017)

AKHVEDELID — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 17:47:00 +0000

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CTED/Vijai Singh

“The linkages between the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and terrorist entities proscribed by the Security Council, such as Lashkar e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, are a further source of concern. And therefore, serious concern remains that Afghanistan may become a safe haven for Al da and a number of terrorist groups in the region,” stated H.E. Mr. T. S. Tirumurti, Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, in his opening remarks to the Committee’s open briefing on the work of CTED with Member States of South and South-East Asia pursuant to Security Council resolution 2395 (2017).

Held on 14 February 2022 in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, 51�Թ� Headquarters in New York, the open briefing featured presentations by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the 51�Թ� Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC/TPB), and the 51�Թ� Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).

Since the adoption of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), the Member States of South and South-East Asia have made significant progress in strengthening their counter-terrorism capacities. Specific measures introduced have focused on counter-terrorism legislation, countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), law enforcement and border controls (including maritime and aviation security, immigration, and intelligence-sharing), as well as on international, regional, and subregional cooperation.

During the introductory panel on "51�Թ� dialogue with Member States of South and South-East Asia", moderated by Mr. Weixiong Chen, CTED Acting Executive Director, CTED briefed participants on terrorism threats and Member States’ efforts to counter them in South and South-East Asia, based on the recently updated Global Survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and other relevant resolutions by Member States (S/2021/972).

“From Colombo to Kabul, Jolo to Surabaya, suicide bombers have attacked hotels and places of worship. Those attacks have increasingly featured women as perpetrators, often operating alongside family members. There are indications that this may become a growing trend”, said Elizabeth Joyce, CTED Chief of Section, Americas and Asia Pacific.

Mr. Márcio Derenne, Deputy Special Representative of INTERPOL to the 51�Թ�, noted that there had been “a decrease in terrorist actors’ and foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs)’ mobility and activity in the region. He noted that there had been a “significant increase in terrorist digital activity” and that “terrorist actors had been exploiting wives, relatives and orphans of dead terrorist fighters as logistical and financial support facilitators.”

Acting on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, CTED has conducted assessment visits to several States of South Asia and to all States of South-East Asia. These visits have enabled CTED to identify strengths, effective practices, and progress made by States in implementing the relevant Council resolutions and related international standards. They have also provided an opportunity for the Committee to identify remaining challenges and areas in which the visited States might benefit from receiving technical assistance.

Mr. Muhammad Rafiuddin Shah, Chief of Service, Political Affairs of UNOCT, stated that “UNOCT continues to draw on the advice and assessment of the Directorate in identifying beneficiary countries and their technical assistance needs. This methodology has been instrumental in tailoring our capacity-building assistance to Member States in South and South-East Asia”.

Mr. Masood Karimipour, Chief of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC, said that “CTED assessments inform the development of some of our CT programming and in turn, we have been able to work with Member States in responding to CTED’s recommendations”.

One example of UNODC & CTED’s joint programming and tool development is the Data Disclosure Framework.

The second panel, on "Progress achieved, challenges, needs and ways forward", was moderated by H.E. Mr. T. S. Tirumurti and featured statements from representatives of invited Member States of South and South-East Asia.

Mr. Rajesh Parihar, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to the 51�Թ�, expressed concern at the use of information and communications technologies (ICT), drones, and other technologies for terrorist purposes and exploitation of non-profit organizations for terrorist-financing purposes.

Acting on the Committee’s behalf, CTED conducted a comprehensive visit to the Philippines in 2006. A first follow-up visit was conducted in 2014, and a second in 2019. CTED identified 62 recommendations for the Philippines. In May 2021, the Philippines briefed the Counter-Terrorism Committee on a range of steps taken by the Philippines to implement the Committee’s visit recommendations pursuant to the requirements of the relevant Council resolutions, as well as eight priority areas of technical assistance needs.

During the open briefing, Undersecretary Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan, Executive Director, Anti-Terrorism Council Programme Management Center of the Philippines, said that, since the CTED visit in 2019, the Philippines had introduced the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the Republic Act 11521 of 2021, and had developed and adopted the National Counter-Terrorism Strategy. CTED is also working with the Philippines Government on facilitating capacity-building under the Ministry of Justice and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

In October 2019, CTED conducted its first visit to Maldives. During the open briefing, Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Naeem, Director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre of Maldives, stated that his country had conducted a baseline study on radicalization, which provided a comprehensive picture of the threat environment across the Maldives and a broader anatomy of the narratives used to spread the extremist ideology.

In February 2020, the Under-Secretary-General of UNOCT and the CTED Executive Director conducted a joint-high-level visit to Indonesia to help promote effective implementation of the 62 recommendations included in the Committee’s report on its 2019 follow-up visit. During the open briefing, Mr. Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, Deputy for International Cooperation, National Counter-Terrorism Agency, stated that Indonesia had recently adopted Presidential Regulation Number 7 of 2021 on the National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism that Leads to Terrorism.

The Committee and CTED will continue to assess progress achieved and remaining gaps in implementing the relevant Security Council resolutions and international standards; facilitate technical assistance delivery in accordance with the Committee’s visit recommendations and the requests of Member States; and identify emerging issues and trends in both subregions.

The concept note is available here.

The agenda is available here.

A summary of the meeting is available here.

The webcast is available here.

Remarks and presentations shared by invited speakers:

Opening session

Opening statement by H.E. Mr. T.S. Tirumurti, Chair, Counter-Terrorism Committee

Session I: Introductory panel on 51�Թ� dialogue with Member States of South and South-East Asia

Session II: Progress achieved, challenges, needs and ways forward

Statements by representatives of invited Member States of South and South-East Asia
India: Mr. Rajesh Parihar, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India
Indonesia: Mr. Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, Deputy for International Cooperation, National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT)
Philippines: Undersecretary Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan, Executive Director, Anti-Terrorism Council Program Management Center (ATC/PMC)
Maldives: Mr. Ibrahim Zuhuree, Deputy Permanent Representative of Maldives

Closing session

Closing statement by H.E. Mr. T.S. Tirumurti, Chair, Counter-Terrorism Committee

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Counter-Terrorism Committee holds informal meeting on community engagement in Asia

AKHVEDELID — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 05:26:00 +0000

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The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) has established close, longstanding relationships with the Member States of Asia, with a strong emphasis on the promotion of regional cooperation to counter terrorism and violent extremism. Recent work in South and South-East Asia has included a focus on the role of community engagement in these efforts, both within and outside the criminal justice system. CTED is also working closely with UN Women to identify and learn from the ways in which Governments of the region engage with women’s groups, youth, law enforcement, religious and community leaders, and educators, with the aim of identifying community engagement approaches as a way to counter incitement and violent extremism that is conducive to terrorism.

As part of these efforts, the Counter-Terrorism Committee on 6 June 2018 held an informal meeting in New York on community engagement to counter terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism in South and South-East Asia. Building on work undertaken in 2017 and 2018 by the Member States of the subregions, CTED, and by its implementing partners to promote regional cooperation in the area, the meeting offered participants to provide insights into regional experiences, lessons learned, and good practices, as well as to highlight engagement between practitioners and non-governmental partners.

The informal meeting illustrated the value of a whole-of-society approach to countering terrorism and violent extremism. One of the tools mentioned as a means to challenge gender stereotypes and terrorist narratives, as well as to stress the importance of education, was the use of comics and comedy, e.g. a cartoon like Burka Avenger. Bringing satirical comedy to a serious topic allows youth to be engaged in the political landscape through dialogue and by bringing a diversity of ideas. In terms of education, teaching youth to recognize and identify terrorist propaganda and rhetoric, as well as integrating technology, specifically social media, were also mentioned as particularly important.

The meeting was chaired by H.E. Gustavo Meza-Vuadra Velásquez, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Peru to the 51�Թ�. Participants included Assistant Secretary-General Michèle Coninsx, Executive Director of CTED; Takeshi Akahori, Minister and Political Coordinator with the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN; and Alison Davidian, Programme Management Specialist with UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Presenters were H.E. Nabeel Munir, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN; Achsanul Habib, Political Coordinator for Human Rights, Counter-Terrorism, and Decolonization with the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the UN; Humera Khan, Co-founder and President of Muflehun; and Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, Executive Director, Al Qalam Institute, Atteneo de Davao University.

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South Asia workshop helps develop habits of cooperation to effectively counter terrorism

AKHVEDELID — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 06:25:00 +0000

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Participants in the 13th workshop.

On 11 January 2018, the 13th Regional workshop for judges, prosecutors, and police officers on effectively countering terrorism in South Asia concluded after three full days. The workshop, which was held in Bangkok Thailand, was organized by the 51�Թ� Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), in cooperation with the Global Center on Cooperative Security, with financial support from the Governments of Japan and Australia.

In regions connected by history, kinships, and shared borders, what happens in one State will impact its neighbours. Terrorism, therefore, affects not just individual States but entire regions. South Asia is one of the regions that have greatly suffered the consequences of terrorism. As part of an effort to promote greater regional cooperation to combat terrorism and other forms of serious crime, CTED has helped to organize a series of workshops that have been held throughout the region for the past six years.

The topic of the 13th workshop, which was attended by police, prosecutors, and judges from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, was engaging communities and criminal justice officials in developing strategies to counter violent extremism. Civil society organizations from Australia, Nepal, and Singapore also participated in the workshop.

Head of the CTED delegation was Chief of Section Elizabeth Joyce, who underlined that capacity-building initiatives such as this workshop “provide an important platform for regional counterparts to share their experiences, lessons learned, and good practices, as well as to discuss key challenges, and most importantly – to develop habits of cooperation.”

Over the three days, participants were engaged in interactive discussions, facilitated by resource persons from Australia and the United States of America, and which included a case study in which the judges, prosecutors, and police officers, respectively, had to present and explain their positions at the end of the workshop.

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CTED and UNODC co-organize regional meeting on effective international judicial cooperation

BMUSONI — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 15:07:00 +0000

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Already in 2013, the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the 51�Թ� Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a process that focused on effective so-called central authorities in requests for extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. A central authority is an agency or organization that is designed to play a key facilitating role in the implementation and operation of international judicial cooperation. Since then, two regional gatherings have been held on this theme, with a third meeting recently arranged in Asia.

From 7 to 9 November 2017, CTED and UNODC co-organized a regional meeting for South and South-East Asian countries on international judicial cooperation in terrorist cases, including cases involving foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). This follows the adoption by the Security Council of resolution 2322 (2016), which reiterated the importance of international cooperation, and reminded Member States of the critical role played by central authorities in this respect.

Held in Kandooma, and hosted by the Government of the Maldives, the regional meeting’s opening remarks were delivered by the Minister of Defence and National Security, Honourable Adam Shareef Umar. Participants discussed challenges and possible solutions, including on the collection of digital evidence, and were requested to identify priority actions to be taken by their respective governments. Funded by the Governments of Canada and Japan, the regional meeting saw the participation of experts from Australia, Canada, and the United States, as well as representatives from INTERPOL, the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

An outcome document is in the process of being processed; it will be posted here as soon as it is available.

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South Asia: Working towards international cooperation in terrorism prevention

BMUSONI — Tue, 26 May 2015 16:03:00 +0000

In order to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts at the national and regional levels, the 51�Թ� Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Government of Nepal, and the 51�Թ� Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) in March 2015 organised a workshop for South Asian countries on ‘Strengthening International Cooperation in Criminal Matters with a Focus on Terrorism Cases’ in Kathmandu, Nepal. Bringing together high-level policy-makers and criminal justice experts and officials from all eight SAARC countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) and beyond, the workshop provided an opportunity for the sharing of experiences in the area of international and regional cooperation in criminal matters. Experts from INTERPOL and the Commonwealth Secretariat presented their respective cooperation mechanisms, including case work and live examples. Each national delegation provided the workshop participants with information on their existing national legislative frameworks and mechanisms for international cooperation with a particular focus on mutual legal assistance and extradition. While acknowledging the need for such formal mechanisms, workshop participants also underlined the importance of establishing and using ways of informal cooperation.

The workshop – which was conducted under the UNODC global project “Strengthening the legal regime against terrorism,” with financial support from the United States of America – served as a platform for reflection as to the identification of possible gaps and required amendments to existing frameworks.

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South Asia: Working towards international cooperation in terrorism prevention

BMUSONI — Tue, 26 May 2015 14:07:00 +0000

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Participants in the workshop.

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