UN adopts counterterror strategy

After a year of “often fractious negotiations,” the UN General Assembly has adopted a comprehensive global strategy to combat terrorism. The strategy, in the form of a resolution and a plan of action, includes practical steps at the local, national and international levels, and range from strengthening the capacity of individual states to prevent and combat terrorism to ensuring that human rights and the rule of law are respected in the course of fighting terrorism. The strategy also recommends a strengthened role for the UN in dealing with terrorism.

UN General Assembly president Jan Eliasson desctibed the strategy as a “great achievement” that establishes the assembly’s role in fighting terrorism, but warned that the months of negotiation were hampered by the fact the the definition of terrorism remained a source of contention between nations. In addition, the strategy identifies a range of politial, social and economic conditions – such as prolonged conflict, human rights violations, socio-economic marginalization and lack of good governance – that foster the spread of terrorism. In response, the strategy’s plan of action emphasizes the importance of achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals as an important element in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking to reporters following the adoption of the strategy, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said “I am extremely happy that the General Assembly has approved this historic document on the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. And I think it is the first time the 192 countries have come together and taken a stand on the issue of terrorism. Now the test will be how we implement it.”

The strategy will be reviewed by the General Assembly in two years to chart progress.