Combating Terrorism:
Coordinating International Cooperation
by Pino Arlacchi

Terrorism is not a new threat. The United Nations is becoming truly united in the face of this historic challenge, rising to a new level of cooperation against not only the groups and individuals who threaten our way of life but also the networks and powers behind them. The United States, the European Union, Russia and-very significantly-an impressive number of the Islamic States are turning from initial shock and condemnation towards constructive engagement in the expected long struggle against the evil of terrorism.

Printable version of this story

I emphasize the importance of the contribution of the Islamic world in this struggle, because that is exactly the point at which we can score our first victory against the sponsors and perpetrators of these attacks. They wanted to turn this into the “clash of civilizations”, into the “holy war” between Islam and the rest of the world. A strong condemnation of their barbaric act from many predominantly Islamic countries demonstrates both the unity of the international community and its ability to isolate, punish and defeat terrorist groups and networks, regardless of their regional or religious backgrounds. It must not be a clash of civilizations, but a struggle-within each of our societies-between the forces of civil and uncivil, between those inspired and guided by a vision of betterment and those representing ideologies based on hatred.

Mankind is facing its first great challenge of the twenty-first century, which has been labelled in media headlines as “the war against terrorism”. But this is going to be entirely a new kind of war, because we face a new kind of enemy: this time it is not a single entity, not even a single State, but a network that functions in many countries and affects all countries, using advantages of globalization and modern technology. Over the last decade, gradually losing the sponsorship of States, international terrorism has developed a huge and well-concealed infrastructure of support.

The United Nations, as a global Organization, has a vital role to play in channelling the international outrage with terrorist attacks and resolve in combating terrorism into a sound, coordinated multifaceted strategy, which includes legal conventions, cooperation between States and their law enforcement agencies, sharing of information and intelligence, and developing and implementing mechanisms to suppress financial support to terrorist groups, etc.

While we all look for new long-term strategies, including a new sense of urgency in adopting a comprehensive convention against terrorism, we need to remember that we have twelve existing United Nations conventions and protocols dealing with terrorism. The 11 September tragedy underscores the need to ratify and implement them. I would like to mention only the most recent one.

The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted on 9 December 1999, states that a person commits an offence if that person “provides or collects funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out” acts of terrorism, and calls on all State Parties to “take appropriate measures ... for the identification, detection and freezing or seizure of any funds used or allocated for the purpose of committing the offences”.

But this Convention has been ratified by only four Member States of the United Nations so far, while 22 are needed for it to enter into force. We at the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention have a limited mandate and resources in that area-our Terrorism Prevention Branch was established only two years ago, in 1999, as a research and technical cooperation arm of our office. While we have no mandate or capacity to serve as an operational arm in the global efforts against terrorism, we can assist Member States in a renewed effort to implement conventions and protocols pertaining to international terrorism, in close cooperation with the UN Office of Legal Affairs in New York.

We also believe that in working on prime areas of our mandate-drug control and crime prevention-we can also make a significant contribution in international efforts against terrorism. The Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, signed in December 2000 in Palermo, provides powerful instruments that, even though not directly aimed at terrorism, can help in that effort as well. These include: increased cooperation among the States and their law enforcement agencies; new tools in tracking down the terrorists’ assets and preventing money-laundering (such as lifting bank secrecy that protects them); easing and speeding up of extradition procedures; and protection of witnesses.

This is why I would use this opportunity to issue a strong appeal for a quick ratification and a full implementation of existing United Nations conventions, which provide a solid legal framework for global efforts in the eradication of terrorism. At the same time, the General Assembly debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism, to be held from 1 to 5 October, offers an opportunity to channel new international resolve into a long-delayed comprehensive convention against terrorism.