Finland co-chairs Counter-Terrorism Strategy Assessment

Finland in cooperation with Jordan will lead the strategic assessment of counter terrorism in the United Nations General Assembly this spring, said an official press release.

The Resolution on the Strategy is scheduled to be approved on June 26.

Finland’s focus area is on preventive measures to respond to violent extremism and terrorism. In the fight against terrorism, it is very important to pay attention to human rights and to the status of victims.

When assessing the Strategy, the themes of current interest are prevention of violent extremism, treatment of guest fighters who return from conflict areas, thwarting financing of terrorism, use of the Internet and new technologies for terrorist purposes, and strengthening the UN Member States’ capacity.

A further important matter to discuss is the role of the UN’s recently established Office of Counter-Terrorism and the expectations of the Member States.

On the one hand, many of the matters addressed in the Resolution are challenging and the Member States have different views while, on the other hand, they share many common goals.

The goal in assessing the Strategy is to bring together different views so that the result is a document that provides clearer and more concrete guidelines for the Member States than before.

All states have to deal with terrorism and violent extremism and, therefore, counter-terrorism measures have taken on a more significant role in the UN than before.

Approved in the UN in 2006, the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy studies factors having an impact on terrorism, preventive and counter-terrorism measures, capacity of the Member States and the UN to respond to threats and to respect to human rights in counter-terrorist activities. The Strategy’s implementation will be assessed every two years. On approving the Resolution, the United Nations Secretary-General will host the first high-level meeting of the national offices of counter-terrorism.