UN COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY - WORKING GROUPS

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000469 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER USUN PREL SUBJECT: UN COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY - WORKING GROUPS BRIEF MEMBER STATES REF: A. USUN/IO EMAIL (WILCOX/FANCHER)--05/23/08 ¶B. USUN 347 ¶1. (U) BEGIN SUMMARY: Calls for the UN Counter-Terrorism Task Force (CTITF) Working Groups to involve Member States in their activities and statements of support for the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (A/RES/60/288) dominated comments at a briefing on the CTITF's activities on May 21. Member States also looked forward to the General Assembly's review of the Strategy on September 5, while several delegations called for the Secretary-General to ensure that the CTITF has more resources. Some Non-Aligned Movement countries complained that the CTITF was not adequately focusing on the root causes of terrorism and argued that the lack of an agreed definition of terrorism would complicate the CTITF's work concerning victims of terrorism. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Robert Orr, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning and Chair of the CTITF, and the heads of the CTITF's Working Groups briefed all UN Members on their activities at a session hosted by the President of the General Assembly on May 21. The CTITF has nine Working Groups on: (1) Preventing and Resolving Conflicts; (2) Addressing Radicalization and Extremism that Lead to Terrorism, (3) Supporting and Highlighting Victims of Terrorism, (4) Preventing and Responding to WMD Attacks, (5) Tackling the Financing of Terrorism, (6) Countering the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes, (7) Facilitating the Integrated Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, (8) Strengthening the Protection of Vulnerable Targets, and (9) Protecting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism. In their presentations Working Group members drew from a handout summarizing their activities (ref A). Supplementing that information, the head of the Working Group on Protecting Human Rights While Countering Terrorism, Ngonlardje Mbaidjol of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced that the Working Group had completed a fact sheet and planned to develop a tool for Member States concerning the human rights impact of targeted sanctions. ¶3. (U) Many States expressed appreciation for the briefing but said the Working Groups should involve Member States more closely in their work and provide greater transparency on their activities. Pakistan, for instance, called for a new ;oversight mechanism to promote States' ownership of the Strategy. Bob Orr responded by encouraging States' input and said the Secretary-General would provide more information on the Working Group's activities in his report for the General Assembly's review of the Strategy. ¶4. (U) Several Non-Aligned Movement countries criticized the Working Groups for not adequately addressing all aspects of the Strategy, with Qatar, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela arguing that the CTITF should have a Working Group devoted to the root causes of terrorism, such as foreign occupation. "State terrorism" was also identified as an issue which must be addressed. Orr explained that the Working Group on Radicalization was formed to consider some of the issues relating to conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and said it had been one of the most active Working Groups, but many NAM states then questioned the Working Group's activities, including how it would define "radicalization." Egypt, for example, cautioned that the Working Group should not limit itself to considering one religion, region, or cultural group. Qatar also said the Working Groups had not taken adequate account of legal protections in the context of terrorism and cited the activities of the Security Council's sanctions committees, unlawful killings of suspected terrorists, and prison conditions as areas needing closer scrutiny. Orr responded that, given the scope of the Strategy, the CTITF could not establish Task Forces on all of its aspects. Instead, the CTITF's Working Groups reflect the areas of the Strategy that enjoy active support from all regions and focus on the issues on which the UN could make a contribution. ¶5. (U) The EU, Turkey, and Switzerland called on the Secretary-General to "institutionalize" the CTITF as called for in the GA Strategy resolution and ensure that it has the resources and staff it needs. Venezuela said the fact that the Working Groups are funded voluntarily gives donor States undo influence over their activities. Orr said the CTITF is working to promote coherence across the UN system but argued that the CTITF needs limited additional resources to be more effective. Comment: The resolution calls for the office to be set up "within existing resources." End Comment. ¶6. (U) Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran expressed misgivings about the activities of the CTITF's Working Group on Supporting and Highlighting the Victims of Terrorism, including the Secretary-General's plans to convene a symposium on victims of terrorism on September 2-3. They argued that the absence of an agreed definition of terrorism would make it difficult to identify victims of terrorism and could lead to "political manipulation." They questioned whether the CTITF would invite victims to the symposium and under what criteria, whether States could bring victims, and whether States would be limited in the number of victims they could bring. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: Thursday's briefing was well attended and the large number of Member States asking questions and making comments suggested strong interest in the CTITF's activities and the Strategy. Time ran out before Orr could answer all of Member States' questions, so Orr will provide a follow-on briefing on May 29. On the margins of the briefing, several delegations told USUN they feared that Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Qatar, Syria, or other NAM delegations might attempt to reopen the Strategy when the General Assembly reviews its implementation in September or disrupt the Secretary-General's symposium on victims of terrorism. USUN will continue to work with other delegations and with Bob Orr to ensure that the review stays focused on implementation. USUN will also seek to learn more about the Working Group on Protecting Human Rights's proposed paper on targeted sanctions and to ensure that it is consistent with U.S. policy toward the Security Council's sanctions committees. End Comment. Wolff