Security Council

5795^th Meeting* (AM)

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS INITIAL PERIOD OF COUNTER-TERRORISM

COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORATE UNTIL 31 MARCH 2008

 

The Security Council decided this morning to extend the initial period of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) until 31 March 2008.

Unanimously adopting resolution 1787 (2007), the Council requested the Executive Director of CTED to recommend, within 60 days, such changes as he deemed appropriate to the organizational plan and to submit them to the Counter-Terrorism Committee for its consideration and endorsement prior to 31 March 2008.

CTED was established by resolution 1535 (2004) as a special political mission under the policy guidance of the Council plenary.

Following this morning’s unanimous vote, the representative of Qatar said his delegation had voted in favour of the resolution, even though some of its observations had not been reflected in the text.  The Council had been dealing with terrorism without a clear definition of the term and having failed to deal with the root causes of the phenomenon.  Qatar urged it to find a clear definition of the phenomenon and its root causes.

There was also a lack of coordination, he said, noting that some 24 bodies within the Secretariat dealt with terrorism.  There was a clear lack of accuracy in the evaluation of Member States’ efforts to implement the resolution and an imbalance in the number of visits to countries of the South compared to countries of the North.  Moreover, the Committee and the Directorate had not done enough to implement resolution 1624 (2005), which focused on incitement to terrorism and the importance of not distorting religious or cultural symbols.

The representative of Panama said the decision taken today was justified because of the recent appointment of Mike Smith, the new Director.

The meeting began at 10:10 a.m. and ended at 10:20 a.m.

Resolution

The full text of resolution 1787 (2007) reads as follows:

“The Security Council,

“Recalling resolution 1373 (2001) of 28 September 2001, resolution 1456 (2003) of 20 January 2003, resolution 1535 (2004) of 26 March 2004, resolution 1624 (2005) of 14 September 2005, as well as its other resolutions concerning threats to international peace and security caused by terrorism,

“Reaffirming that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security,

“Welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, A/60/288, and the creation of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force to ensure overall coordination and coherence in the counter-terrorism efforts of the United Nations,

“Reminding States that they must ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, and should adopt such measures in accordance with international law, in particular, international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law,

“Commending Member States for their cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Committee and calling upon all of them to continue to cooperate fully with the Committee,

“1.   Decides to extend the initial period referred to in paragraph 2 of resolution 1535 (2004) until 31 March 2008;

“2.   Requests the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, within 60 days of the adoption of this resolution and in consultation with Council members, to recommend such changes as he deems appropriate to the organizational plan referred to in paragraph 4 of resolution 1535 (2004), and to submit them to the Counter-Terrorism Committee for its consideration and endorsement prior to the expiration of the period referred to in paragraph 1 of this resolution;

“3.   Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.”

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*     The 5794^th Meeting was closed.

For information media • not an official record