Building a collective response to terrorism.

• Author: Lavrov, Sergey V.
• Position: Related article: Strengthening the Legal Regime Against Terrorism

The experience of recent years demonstrates that it is only through the joint efforts of the world community that the fight against terrorism can succeed. In the face of the dramatic growth of this threat, which acquired a global dimension, the Russian Federation was among the first to call for the establishment of a mechanism for international anti-terrorist cooperation on the basis of the United Nations Charter and the norms of international law.

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Back in 1999, on Russia's initiative, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1269 (1999), its first comprehensive anti-terrorist resolution in history, which set the goal of eradicating terrorism on a global scale. Before that, the Council had only considered some specific cases related to terrorism, as in the case of sanctions against the Taliban. Resolution 1269 laid the groundwork for the establishment of the counter-terrorist coalition, articulated its key principles and defined the areas for collective efforts.

The resolution, in particular, outlawed any acts of terror as having no justification whatsoever, qualified terrorism as a threat to peace and security, called upon all States to adhere to all international anti-terrorist conventions and to fully implement them, and emphasized the need to coordinate efforts of Governments and international and regional organizations. The Security Council also called upon all States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts and attempts to prepare and finance them, to bring to justice those who organize or commit such acts, to deny safe haven to those who are engaged in the planning and commissioning of terrorist activity, and to cooperate in information-sharing and taking concerted administrative and legal measures to prevent terrorist acts. All these provisions laid the conceptual and practical framework for the consequent anti-terrorist resolutions of the Security Council, among which resolution 1373 (2001), adopted after the tragic events of 11 September 2001, occupies the central place. The significance of this resolution, drafted with Russia's active involvement, is that it made the requirements set out in resolution 1269 binding upon all States and established a specific monitoring and coordinating mechanism. This mechanism is the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), where Russia holds a post of one of the Vice-Chairmen and heads one of its three Sub-committees.

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