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Annex I. Inventory of United Nations counter-terrorism activities

Objectives Activities
Dissuading people from resorting to terrorism or supporting it The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization promotes dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, supports inter-religious and inter-faith dialogue, and fosters quality education through strengthening transboundary cooperation and training in science. The UNESCO Culture of Peace programme assists civil society organizations in denouncing terrorist acts as inexcusable.

The Special Representatives and Envoys of the Secretary-General, in providing mediation support and backstopping the Department of Political Affairs, have helped to facilitate peace agreements in 13 conflicts around the world since 2001. The creation of a mediation support unit in the Department and the Peacebuilding Support Office will further enhance the United Nations peacemaking and peacebuilding capacity.

The United Nations Development Programme supports Member States in constructive engagement with disaffected groups prone to violence and promotes their political inclusion as a means of addressing grievances. UNDP has organized dialogue forums and activities such as "Democratic Dialogue" by the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and the "African Futures" initiatives by the Regional Bureau for Africa.

The Department of Public Information works with media, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and civil society to promote respect, tolerance and cultural diversity. The Department organizes a series of seminars entitled "Unlearning intolerance" that focuses on combating anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and hate media.
Denying terrorists the means to carry out an attack Denying terrorists financial support
  • Under the Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions regime, 34 States have frozen at least $93.4 million in assets as of January 2006 of individuals and groups whose names appear on the consolidated list of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999).
  • The Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate have assessed the relevant financial legislation of all 191 Member States and provided recommendations for improvements.
Denying terrorists access to deadly weapons, including weapons of mass destruction
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency implemented a Plan of Activities to Protect against Nuclear Terrorism (2002-2005) and has approved a Nuclear Security Plan for 2006-2009. More than 100 evaluation missions have been conducted for assessment, and as a result 38 high-activity radioactive sources were identified and secured in newly independent States and nearly 70 sources with radioactivity totalling 1,000 terabecquerels were recovered from States and repatriated to their supplier.
  • The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has inventoried and inspected 70,000 tons of chemical agent. So far, more than half of the former chemical weapons production facilities in the world have been either completely destroyed or converted for peaceful purposes.
  • The Department for Disarmament Affairs facilitates the greater participation of Member States in transparency instruments such as the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and provides support to Member States implementing the Programme of Action on Small Arms and the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons.
  • The Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) and its experts have examined reports from 127 States and one organization (the European Union) on their efforts to meet the requirements of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004). They have worked to identify deficiencies and suggest improvements in preventing access by non-State actors to weapons of mass destruction and their components.
Denying terrorists access to travel
  • Interpol facilitates cross-border police cooperation and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime. It also maintains a global database that tracks lost and stolen travel documents.
  • The International Maritime Organization provides an internationally agreed and implemented regulatory regime for ship and port facilities and is expecting to commence consideration of the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade. IMO is developing a mandatory mechanism for the global long-range identification and tracking of ships.
Denying terrorists access to their targets and their desired impact
  • Military and civilian police components of United Nations peacekeeping operations have provided a more secure environment in 16 conflict zones all over the world in the last five years. This has helped to deny terrorists opportunities to recruit and to conduct their operations.
  • Interpol has issued several Orange Notices to warn police, public bodies and international organizations of possible threats from hidden weapons, parcel bombs and other dangerous materials.
Deterring States from supporting terrorist groups The United Nations Security Council has imposed travel bans and financial sanctions against members of Al-Qaida and associated entities. The Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team has submitted four major reports and other documentation to the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) regarding the implementation of sanctions by Member States, as mandated under Security Council resolution 1617 (2005).

Thirteen universal instruments have been developed and adopted at the United Nations that have criminalized specific acts of terrorism including hijacking, hostage-taking and nuclear terrorism. Together with the Security Council resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001), 1540 (2004), 1566 (2004) and 1624 (2005), those conventions provide a legal framework for multilateral actions against terrorism.
Developing State capacity to prevent terrorism The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate has received more than 630 reports from Member States on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001); identified the technical assistance needs of 90 Member States and conducted numerous field visits; and created a Directory of Assistance on standards, practices and sources of counter-terrorism assistance.

Promoting the rule of law and effective criminal justice systems
  • The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has assisted 112 countries in becoming parties to and implementing the universal instruments related to the prevention and suppression of international terrorism, and provided legislative advice on counter-terrorism to 67 countries. It has also developed or is in the process of developing nine technical assistance tools aimed at assisting countries in strengthening their legal regimes against terrorism.
  • With its field presence in 166 countries, the United Nations Development Programme undertakes numerous activities to promote the rule of law, including programmes to support the implementation of anti-money-laundering legislation, the strengthening of judiciary systems, and the developing of institutional capacity in prosecutors' offices.
  • The Department of Peacekeeping Operations provides training to national police on criminal matters including kidnapping, information-gathering, hostage-taking, close protection, and the investigation of assassinations, murders and bombings.
  • The Office of Legal Affairs prepares publications such as National Laws and Regulations on the Prevention and Suppression of International Terrorism, and has organized six annual treaty events which facilitated the entry into force of treaties. During the 2005 treaty event, 82 States signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.
Promoting quality education and religious and cultural tolerance
  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization provides learning materials and curricula to promote inclusive pedagogies and diversified content, and has promoted inter-university solidarity and dialogue through the network of 550 UNESCO Chairs and the UNITWIN programme, which provides opportunities for young people in all regions. UNESCO has also prepared a code of conduct for scientists to help deter the use of scientific work for terrorist purposes.
Countering the financing of terrorism
  • The International Monetary Fund has conducted 40 country assessments on anti-money-laundering and combating the financing of terrorism capacity, and undertaken over 200 bilateral technical assistance missions since 2001 to assist in legislative drafting and in the establishment and strengthening of financial sector supervision.
  • The World Bank has assessed measures of compliance with international anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards in 26 countries, and has delivered technical assistance to countries in all developing regions.
  • The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime continues to deploy professional expertise in the field to train relevant authorities and build institutions to improve anti-money-laundering and combat the financing of terrorism capacity. In addition the Office maintains a database on anti-money-laundering legislation.
Ensuring transport security
  • The International Civil Aviation Organization assesses the level of implementation by States of security-related standards as contained in annex 17 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. ICAO also assists States in protecting aircraft against attacks by man-portable air defence systems, and has worked to enhance the security of the passports of approximately 70 States.
  • The World Customs Organization adopted a Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade in March 2006 and will complete 51 capacity-building missions to 51 countries by June 2007.
  • Through the Global Programme on Maritime Security, the International Maritime Organization has conducted 32 country advisory missions and trained approximately 3,800 people on methods for ensuring maritime security.
Preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological materials, and ensuring better preparedness for an attack with such materials
  • The World Health Organization supports the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005), which ensures rapid reporting of disease outbreaks. WHO has detected over 1,000 epidemics of international importance and provided field support for more than 100 of those outbreaks. In addition, WHO has developed a global laboratory network that aggregates the laboratory capacity to respond to outbreaks and biological threats.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency has held training and education activities reaching 1,500 participants to enhance Member States' capacity to address nuclear security issues, and has been working on assisting States in establishing an effective regulatory infrastructure, improving physical protection at facilities with nuclear and other radioactive materials, strengthening capabilities at borders to detect and respond to illicit nuclear trafficking, and establishing preparedness to respond to acts of nuclear or radiological terrorism.
Improving the defence of soft targets and the response to their attack
  • The Department of Safety and Security is developing counter-terrorism expertise and has undertaken security support operations in 150 States. The Department, Interpol and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are also working together to develop emergency response capacity for security threats, including terrorism.
Promoting United Nations system-wide coherence in countering terrorism

The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, established in 2005 by the Secretary-General, works to ensure overall coordination and coherence among 23 entities throughout the United Nations system involved in counter-terrorism efforts.
Defending human rights in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides assistance and advice to Member States, upon their request, on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, including the review and development of anti-terrorism legislation. OHCHR provides training for law enforcement and security officials, in order to build the necessary skills to implement international human rights instruments. OHCHR has worked with the Department of Public Information to produce reports and tools to increase awareness of international human rights law in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism, including the publication of the Digest of Jurisprudence of the United Nations and Regional Organizations on the Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism.

The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism works to identify, exchange and promote best practices on measures to counter terrorism that respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Special Rapporteur also provides, at the request of Member States, advisory services and technical assistance.

The Office of Legal Affairs, in collaboration with the Department of Political Affairs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is developing proposals and guidelines for Member States on fair and clear procedures for placing and removing individuals and entities on United Nations sanctions lists.

 

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