UNITED NATIONS ACTION TO COUNTER TERRORISM

Report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by Da’esh to international peace and security

  • In his latest report issued on 2 February 2017, the Secretary-General provides an update on the gravity of the threat posed by ISIL and associated groups and considers the presence and influence of ISIL outside Iraq and Syria, including in Europe, the Maghreb and West Africa. It also highlights the efforts of member States in those regions to implement measures, including in order to counter the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters.

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UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman stresses the need for sustained and coordinated responses to tackle Da'esh- 7 February 2017

While countering terrorism has been on the agenda of the United Nations System for decades, the attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001 prompted the Security Council to adopt resolution 1373, which for the first time established the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)

Five years later, all Member States of the General Assembly for the first time agreed on a common strategic framework to fight the scourge of terrorism: the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The Strategy is a unique instrument to enhance the efforts of the international community to counter terrorism along four pillars:

  1. Addressing conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism;
  2. Preventing and combatting terrorism;
  3. Building Member States’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in this regard;
  4. Ensuring the respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis for countering terrorism.

At the time of the adoption of the Strategy, the General Assembly also endorsed the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), which had been established by the Secretary-General in 2005. Consisting of 38 entities of the UN and affiliated organizations, CTITF works to promote coordination and coherence within the UN System on counter-terrorism and to provide assistance to Member States.

The UN Counter Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) provides capacity-building assistance to Member States and carries out counter-terrorism projects around the world in line with the four pillars of the Global Strategy.

The Security Council works to enhance the capacity of Member States to prevent and respond to terrorist acts through its subsidiary bodies, which include the Counter-Terrorism Committee, the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, as well as the 1540 Committee on the non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The Committees are supported in their work by different entities; whereas the Counter-Terrorism Committee has its Executive Directorate (CTED) to carry out its policy decisions and conduct expert assessments of Member States, the 1267 Committee draws on a Monitoring Team.