On 6 June 2024, the Counter-Terrorism Committee held an open briefing on the criminalization of terrorist offences and strengthening of international cooperation in bringing terrorists to justice. UN Photo/Loey Felipe
On Thursday, 6 June 2024, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) convened an open meeting to discuss the codification of the terrorist offence in Member State’s domestic criminal law.
In his opening statement, H.E. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, Chair of the CTC, noted that “resolution 1373 (2001), adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, imposed on all States an obligation to establish terrorist acts as serious criminal offences…and called upon all States to cooperate in preventing terrorism and in bringing terrorists to justice.” He went on to note that the Council has consistently called upon Member States to ensure that measures to counter terrorism comply with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.
Under-Secretary-General Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, noted that UNODC had “assisted Member States in drafting, revising, and adopting over 200 pieces of legislation to incorporate the provisions of these instruments into national legislation.”
Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) said that in order to enhance international cooperation, the international community should strive to reach a common understanding of what constitutes criminal conduct in criminalizing terrorism.
The event, which took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, brought together experts – including representatives from the International Association of Prosecutors and The International Criminal Police Organization, as well as United Nations entities – to discuss best practices in codifying the terrorist offence. Briefers highlighted the risk to human rights and hurdles to international cooperation posed by poorly worded offences.
The presentations highlighted CTED’s new publication, which contains a commentary on the codification of the terrorism offence. The commentary makes public for the first time the Counter-Terrorism Committee’s recommendations to States on the formulation of their terrorist offences. Those recommendations provide advice to States on the scope of the offence.
Briefers noted that domestic definitions of terrorism that depart from international instruments can have the effect of undermining international cooperation. Terrorism offences should be defined restrictively and with full respect for the principle of legality, so as to limit the potential for the misuse of counter-terrorism offences to undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Closing the meeting, H.E. Ambassador Amar Bendjama urged States to take the Committee’s recommendations seriously, and improve their codification of the terrorism offences required by Security Council resolutions.
The final concept note and agenda are available here.
You can watch the meeting .
All photos are available .