VIENNA MEETING CALLS FOR ENHANCED EFFORTS AGAINST TERRORISM

VIENNA MEETING CALLS FOR ENHANCED EFFORTS AGAINST TERRORISM

UN, OSCE Agree to Expand Joint Counter-Terrorism Activities

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 12 March (UN Information Service) -- A two-day counter-terrorism meeting in Vienna called for greater cooperation between international, regional and subregional organizations in strengthening common defences against terrorism.  The meeting, co-hosted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), adopted the Vienna Declaration, reaffirming the central role of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in the global effort to combat terrorism.

The Declaration acknowledges the need to provide assistance to a large number of Member States of the United Nations, to enable them to implement the provisions of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and the 12 anti-terrorism conventions.  The document calls for the promotion of best practices and model laws and the availability of existing technical, financial, regulatory, legislative or other assistance programmes.

“What we need is a serious, active, efficient and practical international cooperation, not cooperation on paper”, said Ambassador Inocencio Arias (Spain), Chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in a press briefing held today at the Vienna International Centre.  “The full implementation of the existing United Nations conventions is vital in diminishing the terrorist threat.”

The Vienna Declaration identifies seven areas of further counter-terrorism cooperation:  coordination and exchange of information to meet the capacity-building needs of the Member States; a comprehensive compilation of the assistance offers and programmes in order to avoid duplication and overlap in the provision of technical assistance;  joint technical assistance programmes and visits to Member States requesting assistance; provision of assistance information to the Counter-Terrorism Committee ; joint efforts in focusing anti-terrorism action plans to the targets and priorities of resolution 1371; intensified encouragement to Member States to ratify and implement the 12 anti-terrorism conventions and protocols.

The participants have agreed to hold a follow-up meeting on the Vienna Declaration within six months, and have accepted the invitation of the League of Arab States to host it in Cairo, Egypt.

For more information, contact:  United Nations Information Service Vienna (UNIS), P.O. Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria; tel.:  (+43-1) 26060 4666, fax: (+43-1) 26060 5899, e-mail:  UNIS@unvienna.org or visit our home page:  www.unis.unvienna.org

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