UN COUNTER-TERRORISM TASK FORCE REPORTS ACTIVITIES

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000226 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER UN PARM SUBJECT: UN COUNTER-TERRORISM TASK FORCE REPORTS ACTIVITIES REF: EMAIL "PROJECT PROPOSALS" WILLSON - IO AND S/CT ¶1. Summary. UN Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr convened an informal briefing on the status of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force's (CTITF) efforts to implement the UN Global Counter-terrorism Strategy (A/RES/60/288). Orr reported on the new Task Force office which has been established in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and future financing of the CTITF. He and other members of the Task Force briefed on Working Group activities. End Summary. ¶2. At a March 3 briefing, ASG Orr announced that the Secretary General had established a small CTITF office in the Department of Political Affairs and that Jean Paul La Borde (Fr),formerly Chief of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC),has been selected as its Director. In addition to the Director, there will be three other posts (two Professionals and one General Service) redeployed to the Office. Orr noted that although the office is located in DPA, it will continue "to answer to the Secretary-General and will remain a priority for him." Orr indicated the office will be enlarged, noting that the "CTITF remains to be staffed on an ongoing basis" and the Secretary General will be asking for support for the office in the 2010-2011 biennium budget proposal. Voluntary contributions will also be needed to carry out some of the core activities of the working groups and a paper entitled "United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Project Proposals 2009" was circulated (Ref). ¶3. Orr indicated that the CTITF intends to expand its engagement with regional and sub-regional organizations and civil society, since real implementation of the Strategy "must be undertaken at the national, regional and grassroots levels." In this regard, he pointed out that the Secretary-General's symposium on supporting victims of terrorism has provided a good example of how the U.N. can work with civil society on Task Force activities. ¶4. Orr and other members of the Task Force reported on the "accomplished, ongoing and planned activities" of the Task Force working groups. (Full reports have recently been posted on the Task Force website: http//www.un.org/terrorism/cttaskforce). He said that some of these working groups will hold separate briefings in the near future. The WG on Supporting Victims of Terrorism will release a Victims Report and hold a discussion March 18 and the Office of Disarmament Affairs will hold a briefing on its new data base on March 10. ¶5. Updates were presented by Task Force members on "Financing", "Use of the Internet", and "Vulnerable Targets" as well as "Protecting Human Rights in the context of Countering Terrorism" and "Countering the Appeal of Terrorism". Orr explained that the last group is the working group which had been active under the title "Radicalization". He also highlighted the work of the Integrated Assistance for Countering Terrorism "IACTS". He said its function was to respond to states requesting assistance in developing counter-terrorism capacity and noted that Nigeria has recently requested IACTS help. Comment: USUN will closely monitor the activities of the "IACTS" group to ensure that they are compatible with the activities being undertaken by the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate. End Comment. Rice