Counter-Terrorism Committee Research Articles

The Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee and Human Rights

The Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee and Human Rights

The UN-Led Multilateral Institutional Response to Jihadist Terrorism: Is a Global Counterterrorism Body Needed?

This article first briefly outlines the current terrorist threat posed by militant Islamist radical terrorism and the complexity and evolving nature of threat. It highlights the lack of consensus in academic and policy communities regarding the underlying causes of this terrorism. It them posits that the overarching challenge in the next few years will be to maintain the broad-based international co-operation in the fight against terrorism that has existed since 11 September 2001, which is essential to address the threat effectively. Elements of this challenge include dispelling the notion that the US-led counterterrorism effort is targeting Islam and keeping the global South engaged. Durable, effective and flexible mechanisms are needed at the global, regional and national levels to ensure that multifaceted, holistic strategies are developed and implemented to address these issues. The article then outlines the current capacity of multilateral institutions to contribute to the fight against terrorism. The performance of the main UN counterterrorism bodies – led by the Security Council’s different counterterrorism entities – as well as some of the key regional and functional ones, this article concludes, has been uneven. Different organisations have developed counterterrorism programs and units, but these have emerged from political reactions rather than strategic decisions with corresponding achievable technical objectives. The duplication of efforts, overlapping mandates and lack of co-ordination at the international, regional and sub-regional levels have limited the different bodies’ overall contribution to the global non-military counterterrorism effort and have left many of the world’s vulnerabilities to terrorism unaddressed. This article concludes that maintaining international co-operation and the focus on capacity-building and other non-military counterterrorism measures, as well as the need to address the proliferation of counterterrorism bodies, highlights the need for an effective multilateral body at the center of the effort. The UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee was supposed to be this body, but it has been unable to fulfill its broad mandate effectively. The article details the limitations of the current UN Security Council-led approach and the inherent, political, administrative and budgetary challenges of operating within the UN system that would make it difficult to co-ordinate global capacity-building efforts effectively. While it proposes a possible short-term improvement – the consolidation of the different parts of the Security Council counterterrorism program into as single body – in the end, it argues that a new international body dedicated to counterterrorism outside of, but perhaps related in some way to, the UN may be needed.

The Duty to Bring Terrorists to Justice and Discretionary Prosecution

In Res. 1373 (2001), the Security Council laid down the duty to bring terrorists to justice and to deny them safe haven. Whereas such duty expressed a clear political imperative in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, it is less clear how national authorities are supposed to translate it into a set of enforceable legal obligations. If it is interpreted as ‘obliging’ states to prosecute and try terrorists, as the Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee seems to suggest, the power of prosecutors to decide whether or not to bring a case to court may be severely impaired. An unconditional obligation to bring terrorists to court would not necessarily strengthen states’ judicial response to the threat of international terrorism. A sensible exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be instrumental in articulating a flexible and more effective response in various circumstances. Moreover, a rigid interpretation of the requirement to bring terrorists to justice does not find support in Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on terrorism. Far from mandating that alleged offenders be unconditionally brought to trial, the universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols limit themselves to requiring that the jurisdiction of national courts be established, which is conceptually different from imposing its actual exercise.

Building Capacity to Combat International Terrorism: The Role of the United Nations Security Council

Prior to 11 September 2001, international instruments targeting specific criminal acts were adopted to deal with terrorism, and Security Council counter‐terrorism measures, which were not mandatory, went unheeded. Post 11 September, the council adopted Resolution 1373(2001) under chapter VII of the charter, setting out certain mandatory measures to prevent and suppress international terrorism, including reporting to the Counter‐Terrorism Committee (CTC) on actions taken to implement the resolution. No state met all the requirements, and it created a tremendous burden, particularly for those of a lesser degree of capacity and resources. UNSCR 1377(2001) mandated the CTC to facilitate assistance to states. States are facilitated in assessing their 1373‐related capacity deficiencies, and on the availability of assistance. Legislative drafting assistance and personnel training were needed by most. The CTC engages assistance providers on the priority needs for each state, and serves as a focal point for co‐ordination of assistance programmes to avoid duplication and overlap. By the end of July 2003, some 80 states had requested assistance with an additional 79 receiving legislative drafting and personnel training assistance. Regional and international organizations and institutions with the capacity to provide assistance have been asked to facilitate assistance to their members. Political will and capacity must be raised to effectively implement the measures prescribed by Resolution 1373. The Security Council provided a roadmap for combating terrorism, and the CTC has made the provision of technical assistance a priority in its work.

Security Council Resolution 1373, the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the Fight Against Terrorism

Following September 11, 2001, the Security Council took a number of important steps in the fight against terrorism. It condemned global terror and recognized the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter in responding forcefully to those horrific attacks. Perhaps its most significant action in this area, however, was the adoption of Resolution 1373 which established the Counter-Terrorism Committee (the CTC). Addressing the significance and substance of this Security Council action, this essay reviews the work of the CTC to date, highlighting some of its accomplishments, and then touches upon some of the challenges the CTC will likely confront as it progresses with its mission. How it chooses to confront these challenges will surely have a considerable impact on its future work.