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Speaking Notes: 20 January 2003
Mr President,
A number of Security
Council delegations came to the view late last year that
the Security Council's work on Counter-Terrorism needed
to be stepped up a gear. For all the progress made by
the Counter-Terrorism Committee in monitoring and
encouraging the working implementation of SCR 1373 by
Member States, achieving real improvements in practice,
on the ground, everywhere, is taking too long. The
threat is real, and immense. The urgency is irrefutable.
As Chairman of the CTC, I welcome this Ministerial
meeting to raise the pace.
So what has the CTC
achieved, against the objective of ensuring that all
Governments have taken effective steps to ensure there
is no support, active or passive, for terrorism
anywhere?
In 15 months, the CTC has received
over 280 reports from 178 member States. These show that
the vast majority of Governments throughout the world
have begun to respond to the challenge laid down in
resolution 1373 to prevent and suppress terrorism. In
almost every case, Parliaments have begun to consider or
to adopt new laws. Governments have reviewed the
strength of their institutions to fight terrorism and in
some cases have already strengthened them.
But
there is still much more to do before terrorists find
that the bar against terrorism has been raised
everywhere. It is in recognition of this that I would
like to set out for the Council today the views of the
CTC on what more we can do to further global
implementation of 1373.
First, all States must
begin to work towards this shared goal. Thirteen States
have not yet submitted a report to the CTC. They are
over a year late. Two States have not yet even picked up
the telephone: they are Liberia and Timor-Leste
(although that new UN member should be allowed more
time). We know that the others, Chad, Equitorial Guinea,
Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Marshall Islands, Sao Tome and
Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tuvalu
and Vanuatu, are working on reports, three with outside
assistance set up by the CTC. We know that others have
real difficulties. But, whatever the underlying reasons,
they are failing in their responsibilities as members of
the UN. The Declaration to be adopted today sets a final
date for submission of 31 March. The CTC will continue
to be in contact with all these States, offering
whatever help or advice they need to complete the
reporting requirement. But after 31 March it must be
clear that any non-reporting State will be held to be
non-compliant with resolution 1373.
Second,
States must understand what they need to do to improve
their implementation of 1373, and do it. The CTC through
its confidential letters to States offers advice and
guidance on how to fill the gaps in implementation of
1373, focusing as a first priority on legislation and
terrorist financing. 1373 is a complicated resolution,
requiring significant effort by States to strengthen
their laws and institutions to cope with the modern
threats of terrorism. States must take prompt action,
including having a process in hand for becoming party to
the 12 relevant conventions and protocols. The CTC will
bring to the attention of the Council any difficulties
it encounters, as requested in the Declaration which
will be adopted today.
The CTC pays tribute to
the large number of Member States who have worked hard
to meet the requirements. We know that the task is not
easy, and that many States will require help. The
Committee stands ready to offer whatever guidance and
advice it can directly, and encourages States to contact
the Committee抯 Experts on any matter arising from the
CTC抯 letters. The Experts are a source of tremendous
knowledge, and I commend them for their huge
contribution so far. States can also use the online
揇irectory of Counter-Terrorism Information and Sources
of Assistance? a tool for Governments to access
information on best practice and potential assistance
programmes. And the Experts will continue to facilitate
the provision of assistance, being in touch with States
about their assistance needs, and with potential
providers on the current priorities, at present
legislation and countering-terrorist financing. But all
States have the responsibility not only to improve their
own counter-terrorism capacity, but also, where they
can, to help others. Only by working together will we
defeat the universal threat of terrorism. It is right
that the Declaration calls on States to assist each
other. Not enough has yet been done actually to get
projects up and running.
Achieving all this will
be easier for individual States if they work within the
collective effort of their region. Since its
establishment the CTC has developed links with
international, regional and sub-regional organisations
who have or intend to develop counter-terrorism
programmes. International organisations must work with
States on standards in their own areas of competence.
Regional organisations must develop an understanding of
States?international obligations in the area of
counter-terrorism, and help their Members to meet them.
International and regional organisations have key roles
to play. The CTC looks forward to discussing this with
such organisations at a Special Meeting on 7 March, and
to setting action in hand.
So far the CTC has
not initiated action on Paragraph 4 of resolution 1373,
which notes the potential links between terrorism and
other forms of international organised crime. But what
is happening out there, in areas of the world vulnerable
to terrorism and international organised crime, is
threatening. The structures which the Committee is
helping to put in place for Counter-Terrorism may have a
wider value and effectiveness in strengthening all
Governments?capacity against international crime of all
kinds. There may be advantages, too, for our work as a
Council against the proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction. I would hope that Ministers will demand
accelerated action across the full range of these vital
security issues.
Let me close by paying tribute
to the work of Security Council Members on the CTC, to
the Vice-Chairmen, the Experts and the Secretariat
throughout 2002. We begin the new year with five new
members, and a new Bureau. The Vice Chairmen,
Ambassadors Aguilar Zinser (Mexico), Gaspar Martins
(Angola) and Lavrov (Russia), and I look forward to
directing the work of the CTC in the coming months. I am
determined to make my last three months in the Chair
count, and intend to pass on to Ambassador Arias (Spain)
a Committee with a continued sense of purpose, direction
and momentum. The Security Council would expect nothing
less: the world of law and order can afford nothing
less. I hope that Ministers will hold their delegations
to account for the right results.
20 January
2003
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