• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence

• Security Menu                     

• Systems
• Industry
• Operations
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Space

Report of the Policy Working Group on the United Nations and Terrorism

IV. Cooperation

A. Non-United Nations multilateral initiatives

42. Over the past two decades, multilateral institutions and regional organizations have launched a variety of counter-terrorist initiatives which have gained momentum with the growing threat of international terrorism in the wake of the 11 September attacks.

43. Many regional organizations have adopted conventions that deal explicitly with the issue of terrorism, thus complementing on a regional level the 12 international conventions on terrorism. Most of them establish common extradition procedures, state the aim of cooperation and call for the exchange of information. The European Union has taken a leading role in the field of police and judicial cooperation, not least because of its high degree of integration. Measures include: a common arrest warrant; a common list of terrorist organizations; routine exchange of information between member States and the European Police Office (Europol); the establishment of Eurojust (a coordination body composed of magistrates, prosecutors and police officers); joint investigative teams of police and magistrates across national boundaries; and an effort to establish a common definition of terrorist activities for criminal justice purposes. On a more global scale, Interpol does important work, on which regional organizations could build. With 179 member States, Interpol collects, stores, analyses and disseminates intelligence about suspected individuals and groups and their activities.

44. Secretariats of some regional organizations have established specialized units, task forces or designated posts that focus on terrorism. Such steps establish clear delineations of responsibility, especially for facilitating inter-organizational cooperation, and provide clear points of contact.

45. Certain organizations have taken action to curb the financing of terrorism. The Financial Action Task Force on Money-laundering, an intergovernmental organization created by the Group of Seven industrialized countries but now comprising 28 member States, plays a leading role in setting standards and effecting the necessary changes in national legislation on terrorist financing. On 31 October 2001, the Task Force issued eight special recommendations on terrorist laundering which commit member States to a wide range of legislative and regulatory action. The United Nations has been involved in this area through the activities undertaken within the framework of the Global Programme against Money-laundering, implemented by the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention which works in close coordination with the Task Force.

46. Various multilateral groups provide technical assistance to States to help them to develop or enhance a variety of legal, financial and other actions to counter terrorism. Finally, many organizations have put enhanced emphasis on the importance of interregional political and religious dialogue. The European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have launched a cross-cultural dialogue at the level of foreign ministers.

47. The potential role of the United Nations in working with regional multilateral efforts fits within the Organization's roles of norm setting, coordination, cooperation and capacity-building. The norm-setting role has been described elsewhere in the present report. In supporting coordination and cooperation, the United Nations should be guided by the following principles: First, the current ad hoc interaction between the United Nations and regional organizations should be made more systematic. Second, coordination mechanisms already in place should be used to avoid duplication of effort and waste of resources. Third, where possible, the United Nations should help regional organizations involved in counter-terrorism to develop a division of labour based on comparative advantage. Fourth, a better flow of information among regional organizations and the United Nations should be established.

B. Coordination and coherence in the United Nations system

48. Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September, virtually all component parts of the United Nations system have taken steps to incorporate activities to counter terrorism within their respective areas of work. Many of these entities have enhanced their mandates to develop counter-terrorism measures and to provide a constitutional basis for action.

49. The resulting overlaps and duplications in the efforts of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes are natural responses to an emergency and in most circumstances they provide useful opportunities for learning, as variations in programmes allow for the identification of best practice. Much more serious, however, are significant gaps in the overall repertoire of responses, and gaps between the individual mandates of organizations and the resources available to meet them.

50. There is an enormous gap between mandates and resources. The Terrorism Prevention Branch of the Centre for International Crime Prevention of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention has two Professional posts and the Centre itself, whose technical assistance and capacity-building tasks were expanded to include terrorism, has 34.

51. The Policy Working Group believes that there is a need for a senior-level group within the United Nations system to meet periodically to assess the system's activities on terrorism, and recommend steps to ensure its effectiveness and coherence. The Department of Political Affairs, as the focal point of the United Nations system, on terrorism, could monitor the issue on a regular basis from a political perspective, ensure that the system is represented at international meetings as appropriate, and act as convenor of the proposed senior-level group which, in order to make maximum use of existing structures, should be the Executive Committee on Peace and Security.