Briefing by the H.E. Mr. Jean-Maurice Ripert, Acting Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism, to the Security Council 26 May 2009

Mr. President, In my capacity as the Acting Chairman of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001), known as the Counter-Terrorism Committee, it is my honor to brief the Security Council on the work of the Committee since the last briefing held on 12 November 2008. Mr. President, In the past six months, the Committee has pursued its activities according to its programmes of work, which were issued as official documents of the Security Council. The Committee has continued to analyze the Preliminary Implementation Assessments (PIAs). Since last November, the Committee approved 21 PIAs, and thus far the Committee has adopted 191 PIAs, while the remaining 2 should be formally approved by the Committee in the forthcoming months. One of the major initiatives undertaken by the Committee in this reporting period is the stocktaking exercise. While receiving their preliminary assessments in 2007 and 2008, Member States were also given time, usually 12 months, to send their comments and provide updates. As the first deadlines have expired, the Committee has endorsed a proposal on how to conduct the stocktaking of each Member State's implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001). This process is carried out in stages involving the Sub-committee and the Committee levels. Stocktaking allows the Committee to enhance its regular dialogue with Member States, and to further identify areas where the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001) is still inadequate. In practice, stocktaking exercise entails the Committee acting on recommendations prepared by the Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) for every Member State. The recommendations range from the Committee requesting additional information on identified gaps in the implementation of resolution, to inviting Permanent Representatives to meetings of the relevant Subcommittees, at which they would be reminded of their obligation to implement the resolution 1373 (2001), and the Subcommittee would inquire why the Member State in question is unable to respond to the Committee's communications, as well as encourage the Permanent Representative to explore additional ways to help CTED acquire updates and further information. The Committee has already finalized 16 files in this ongoing stocktaking exercise. Mr. President, The Committee has continued organizing visits to Member States, with their consent. Country visits constitute a fundamental component of the Committee's activities to effectively monitor and promote the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). Besides comprehensive visits, which analyze all aspects of the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001), CTED's revised organizational plan envisaged a more flexible approach by allowing shorter visits focused on one or two particular aspects of the counter-terrorism 1

regime of the Member State concerned. In addition, the plan prepared the basis for regional visits and for missions that examined examples of good practice, as well as vulnerabilities. With these innovations, the rate of visits has significantly increased, which enabled the Committee to engage in more depth with a wider range of countries from all regions. Throughout the past six-month period, the Committee has concluded successful on-site visits to Kenya, Uganda, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Bangladesh. Five cross-cutting technical working groups, established by CTED's organizational plan, which cover major areas of implementation of resolution 1373 (2001), as well as implementation of resolution 1624 (2005), have presented to the Committee the results of their activities. Their work is aimed at revising and harmonizing criteria for technical judgments of elements of resolution 1373 (2001), and completing a technical guide that will assist CTED in this task. The technical guide has been submitted to the Committee by CTED and is now under consideration. Mr. President, The Committee and CTED have worked to enhance their ongoing dialogue with Member States, donors and beneficiaries, on the facilitation of technical assistance. In this context, the Committee continues to look for opportunities to match current and potential donors with recipients in order to enhance the dialogue between the donor community and recipient countries and to further the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). The Committee approved a report on the implementation of the Plan of Action adopted at the fifth special meeting of the Committee, held two years ago in Nairobi, Kenya. This review was prepared by CTED in consultation with the 77 international, regional and subregional organizations invited to participate in the meeting, and it highlighted more than 100 conferences, workshops and training sessions organized since November 2007 to promote the implementation of the Plan of Action. The Committee also maintains on its website the technical assistance matrix and a directory of assistance programmes. In its dialogue with Member States, the Committee continued reminding them that they must ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law. The senior human rights officer in CTED regularly contributes relevant information for inclusion in the PIAs, provides briefings for CTED country visits and has participated in two of them, as well as promotes consistent approach to human rights issues in CTED's activities. Regarding the Security Council resolution 1624 (2005), the Committee has continued to include in its dialogue with Member States their efforts to implement this resolution. A total of 99 States had submitted reports to the Committee on their implementation of the resolution. The Committee continues to encourage those States that have not yet reported to do so. Recently, the Committee endorsed a discussion paper, prepared by CTED, on moving forward with this dialogue. The Committee also continues to encourage Member States to become party to and implement the 16 international counter-terrorism instruments. 2

The Committee plays its part in the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Under the guidance of the Committee, CTED continued to participate actively in and support all relevant activities of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF). CTED participated in the work of three CTITF working groups dealing respectively with Countering Terrorist Financing, Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, and Integrated Assistance for Countering Terrorism (I-ACT). The Committee welcomes the intention of the Secretariat to co-locate CTITF secretariat and CTED, which will be conducive to their closer collaboration within their respective mandates. The Committee, mostly through its experts and in line with resolution 1805 (2008), cooperates and coordinates its activities with two other Security Council subsidiary bodies that deal with counter-terrorism ­ committees established pursuant to resolutions 1267 and 1540. More information on this cooperation has been presented earlier today in the common message by the three committees. Moreover, as part of its cooperation and exchange of information with counter-terrorism partners during its meetings in New York, the Committee heard several briefings by representatives of relevant organizations and United Nations' bodies. Mr. President, The Committee will need to accomplish several major tasks in the next six months. First, resolution 1805 (2008) requested an interim review of CTED by 30 June 2009. I am pleased to report that the Committee has started informal consultations on this issue, and is working towards submitting a report on the review to this Council before the stipulated deadline. Moreover, in the forthcoming period the Committee will focus on concluding the major part of the stocktaking exercise. The Committee also expects to receive a new revision of the Survey on implementation of resolution 1373 (2001) by Member States, and further strengthen contacts with relevant countries to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance. As terrorism remains one of the major threats to international peace and security, the Committee represents a crucial instrument of the international community to address that global scourge. The work of the Committee greatly benefits from constructive engagement of its members. On the other hand, support from and cooperation with Member States remains invaluable, particularly in carrying out the stocktaking exercise. I would therefore like to thank all Member States for their important contribution, which enables the Committee to fulfill its mandate. Finally, I would like to extend the Committee's gratitude to Mr. Mike Smith, Executive Director of CTED, and his team, for their valuable assistance. I also appreciate continuous support provided by the Secretariat.

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