Note to Correspondents

Implementation of United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

 

to be reviewed by General Assembly on 4 September

 

United Nations Member States will hold their first major review meeting to assess their efforts to implement the two-year-old Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on 4 September.  The Strategy, adopted on 8 September 2006, was the first global attempt to agree on a wide set of practical action points to combat terrorism.  In it, Member States also committed themselves to review its implementation in two years’ time.

General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim has made implementation of the Strategy one of the main priorities of the current session of the General Assembly.  To help Member States prepare for the September formal review, a midterm stock-taking meeting was held on 4 December 2007, as was a briefing, on 21 May 2008, by the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), which consists of United Nations system entities and was established by the Secretary-General to ensure coordination and coherence in the United Nations system’s counter-terrorism efforts.

“Countering terrorism is a daunting challenge that we can only overcome by working in partnership,” said the President of the General Assembly, stressing that “the Strategy reflects the commitment of the whole United Nations membership to enhance the role of the Organization in countering terrorism”.

The President hopes that the outcome of the September review meeting will send a strong and unified political message of the General Assembly against terrorism.  “It is essential to maintain the integrity of the Strategy as all parts are indispensable to our counter-terrorism efforts,” he notes.

In the Strategy, all Member States reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and underscored their resolve to strengthen their global response to counter terrorism.  It is a unique instrument to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism.  Member States also agreed to comprehensive, coordinated and consistent responses to counter terrorism at the national, regional and international levels.  The Strategy sets out a plan of action in four areas:  measures to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; measures to prevent and combat terrorism; measures to build States’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in this regard; and measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism.

The 4 September meeting will be held in the General Assembly Hall beginning at 10 a.m. with an opening statement by the President of the General Assembly, followed by a statement by the Secretary-General.  The floor will then be open for delegations to address the topic.

The meeting will be open to the media.

For more information:  http://www.un.org/terrorism/; and http://www.un.org/ga/president/62/issues/cts.shtml.

Please contact Janos Tisovszky, Spokesperson for the General Assembly President, tel.:  917 367 2068, e-mail:  tisovszky@un.org.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record