Ain-Al-Yaqeen - February 18, 2005

		February 18, 2005

COUNTER-TERRORISM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:

COMPREHENSIVE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FOUR WORKING GROUPS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNTER-TERRORISM CONFERENCE.
EXTREME POVERTY, UNJUST SOCIAL SYSTEM AND STRUCTURE, CORRUPTION, POLITICAL CAUSES, FOREIGN OCCUPATION, EXTREME EXPLOITATION, RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM, SYSTEMIC VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, DISCRIMINATION, ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION ARE AMONG THE ROOT CAUSES OF TERRORISM.
REGIONAL CONFLICTS PROVIDE A PRETEXT FOR THE OPERATIONS OF TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS.
TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM SHOULD BE CONDEMNED AND COMPREHENSIVELY CONFRONTED BY A UNIFIED AND EFFECTIVE GLOBAL STRATEGY AND AN ORGANIZED INTERNATIONAL EFFORT.

The four working groups of the International Counter-terrorism Conference hosted by the Kingdom in Riyadh issued their recommendations.

Following are the recommendations in detail:

REPORT OF THE FIRST WORKING GROUP
(Origins, sources, culture and ideology of terrorism)
Date: 7 February 2005
Chairman: Ambassador Hayati Guven (Republic of Turkey)
Session Rapporteur: Dr. Mustapha Alem (Saudi Arabia)
Workshop title: Origins, culture and ideology of terrorism
Participants:
Federal Republic of Germany
Islamic Republic of Iran
Federal Republic of Brazil
Republic of Turkey
Denmark
Canada
State of Kuwait
Republic of Lebanon
Malaysia
Arab Republic of Egypt
Japan
European Union
UN Security Council 1267 Committee Monitoring Team

Session Summary
The Chairman of the workshop was chosen in coordination between member states which nominated Turkey to chair Workshop I.

Germany, Turkey, Egypt and Japan delivered the statements in the session which focused on the origins, culture and ideology of terrorism. Other countries contributed from the floor to the work of the committee and experiences of each state in this field were reviewed. It was emphasized that terrorism is one of the most serious issues and problems of our times, and that it is important to define its causes and explore ways to combat it.

The participants underlined that extreme poverty, unjust social system and structure, corruption, political causes, foreign occupation, extreme exploitation, religious extremism, systemic violation of human rights, discrimination, economic marginalization and culture alienation as a result of globalization can be cited among the root causes of terrorism. They also emphasized that regional conflicts as well provide a pretext for acts of terrorism and for the operations of terrorist organizations. They accepted that these factors, along or together can create a fertile ground where terrorism can flourish. Elimination of these negative factors would contribute to the elimination of terrorism.

Although it is a widely accepted fact that certain factors provide a suitable environment for terrorism to flourish, it is also important to bear in mind that identifying these "root causes" is a very complex and difficult task. Therefore, while identifying the most fundamental factors that give rise to terrorism, it should be noted that this is an open ended list.

However, they also stressed that it is not possible to accept any of those factors as a cause by itself leading to terrorism in a deterministic manner. They affirmed that there exists no single root cause of terrorism or even a common set of causes. There are however a number of predictions and precipitant for the emergence of various forms of terrorism. They agreed that terrorism is better understood as emerging from a process of interaction between different factors, that as a mechanical cause and effect relationship.

Recommendations:

1- Terrorism and extremism constitute a continuous threat to the peace, security and stability of all countries and peoples. They should be condemned and comprehensively confronted by a unified and effective global strategy; and an organized international effort underlining the leading role of the United Nations is needed.
2- No matter what pretext terrorists may use for their deeds, terrorism has no justification. Terrorism under all circumstances, regardless of the alleged motives should be condemned unreservedly.
3- Lack of agreement on a comprehensive definition of terrorism which is acceptable to all hampers international efforts to combat terrorism. Therefore, the problem of definition should be overcome.
The proposals contained in the UN High Level Panel Report on New Threats and Challenges could provide a useful basis for a speedy compromise in this field.
4- The violent nature of terrorism forces the international community to concentrate on measures to eliminate terrorist organizations and prevent terrorist acts. On the other hand, it is important to address the factors that provide a fertile ground where terrorism can flourish with a view to contribute to the elimination of terrorism.
5- Serious attempts should be made to solve regional and international conflicts peacefully, so that terrorist organizations are denied the opportunity of exploiting the suffering of peoples under unjust conditions, spreading their misguided ideology and founding a fertile ground for recruitment and for their illegal activities.
6- Terrorism violates the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Terrorism has no particular region, race, nationality or a specific geographic region. In this context, it should be underlined that any attempt to couple terrorism with any religion would in fact play into the hands of terrorists and should be strongly rejected. Therefore, measures should be taken to prevent intolerance against any religion and to create an atmosphere of common understanding and cooperation based on shared values among nations belonging to different faiths.
7- Guidelines and codes of conduct should be developed by the appropriate UN bodies to assist states and their law enforcement agencies in combating terrorism while observing their obligations under international law including human rights, humanitarian and refugee laws.
8- National reform efforts of countries aiming at widening political participation and pluralism, achieving sustainable development, reaching social equilibrium and promoting the role of civil society institutions should be supported so as to confront the conditions promoting violence and extremism.
9- Programs should be developed and implemented which are aimed at promoting multicultural and inter-religious dialogue. To this effect, policies and mechanism should be set to develop educational systems and other sources of socialization in order to strengthen the values of tolerance, pluralism and human co-existence at grassroots level as well as to provided basic knowledge of civilizations and religions and to raise public and mass media awareness of the dangers of terrorism and extremism.
10- Ideas of tolerance and co-existence should be encouraged and mutual understanding on different religions be deepened through public debate and exchange of thoughts. Standards and codes of ethics should be identified to regulate publication or spreading of materials that promote hatred or inciting violence.
11- Special attention should be given to the situation of migrants. In many cases, these people represent "the Other" and are subjected to racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Addressing the fundamental rights of these persons will help bridge the cultural divide. At the same time, migrants should demonstrate willingness to ingrate into their host societies.
12- The UN is the main forum for consolidating international cooperation against terrorism. member stare are called to join, ratify without reservation and implement the 12 major international conventions on combating terrorism.
13- The UN Security Council resolutions 1267, 1373, 1526, 1540 and 1566 constitute a solid and comprehensive basis for combating terrorism on a universal scale. These resolutions provide a clear road map for the steps that need be taken. All countries should take necessary measures in order to fully comply with the provisions of the above mentioned Security Council resolutions.
14- The task of creating a universal legal instrument is yet to be fulfilled. The discussions in the UN on a comprehensive convention on terrorism have not moved ahead due to differences on the definition of terrorism. All states should exert further efforts in order to conclude the convention.
15- Special attention should be given to measures aimed at preventing terrorists' access to weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The earliest possible adoption within the UN of the draft international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism would be a crucial step in this direction.

Recommendations from the Second Working Group the relation between terrorism and money laundering and arms and drugs trafficking adopted by the Plenary Session.

Introduction:

The underlying motives of terrorism and organized crime are different. But both present a serious challenge to the international community, as organized crime methods used more and more by terrorists only makes more serious the threat from terrorism.

Terrorists can engage in transnational crimes to generate funding for their operations, and can rely on transnational criminal networks for logistical and material support.

Many forms of crime can be used to contribute to terrorism financing. On the other hand legally obtained funds may also be used for the purpose of terrorism financing.

Considering this, the following action points are recommended:
1- Strengthening international, regional and bilateral cooperation among states to identify, disrupt and dismantle the financial underpinnings of terrorism, as well as the activities of organized crime groups, illegal weapons and explosives trafficking and illicit narcotics trade. Countries should endeavor to create legal frameworks that allow for flexible exchange of operational information in a flexible way between competent authorities, both domestically, regionally and internationally.
2- Encouraging countries to fully implement the existing Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Finance of Terrorism (AML/CFT) international standards, in particular the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 + 9 Recommendations and the relevant UN Conventions and Security Council Resolutions as well best practices to counter money laundering and financing of terrorism through:
- strengthening the efforts of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in AML/CFT;
- encouraging countries not subject to mutual evaluation by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) or FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) to volunteer for assessment by International Monetary Fund and World Bank;
- encourage all countries to develop Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) that meet the Egmont Group Definition and standards and to have these FIUs to join the Egmont Group to share experience, expertise and operational information.
3- Asking the United Nations to work together with the FATF and FSRBs to further elaborate international standards to ensure the fulfillment of the Charitable and humanitarian role of Charities and non-profit organizations by regulating their operations and by preventing their use in illegal activities. The articulation of these standards should be conducted in the context of the FATF and FSRBs.
4- Ensuring effective information flow among relevant law enforcement, national security and intelligence agencies with AML/CFT responsibilities. Additionally, countries should, to the greatest extent possible, ensure cooperation among agencies on a bilateral, regional and international basis.
5- Increasing national, bilateral, and regional cooperation and coordination among agencies combating terrorism, as well as money laundering, arms and explosives trafficking, and drugs smuggling and supporting the sharing of expertise and experiences, for instance by training, to ensure effectiveness in the fight against terrorists and organized crime.
6- Enhancing laws on combating arms and explosives trafficking and drugs smuggling, money laundering and improving the capacities of law enforcement agencies (including judicial authorities) to implement those laws.
7- The international community should reinvigorate its efforts to develop and refine mechanisms that enable countries to comply fully with their obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373 to freeze without delay the assets of terrorist and those who materially support them. In particular, countries should provide accurate, reliable, and complete data at their disposal of any individual name, organization or entity as well as information on the involvement in terrorism prior to the submission of the designation to the 1267 Committee. Delisting procedures should be established.
8- Encouraging the creation of special domestic bodies that would manage seized and confiscated assets and funds derived from money laundering, terrorism financing, arms and drugs smuggling and organized crime. These funds could be used for strengthening the means allocated to the fight against these forms of crime, as well as to compensate and assist victims of terrorism.
9. At national level, identifying individuals and entities that are suspected in the financing of terrorism. At the FIU level, this information could be shared freely and rapidly and in line with the Egmont principles. In case of discovery of relevant information, countries should respond through appropriate channels.
10. Encouraging countries to undertake a study to determine the feasibility of implementing a system for collection and analysis, by the FIUs of international wire transfers to facilitate the detection of transactions or patterns that may be indicative of money laundering or financing terrorism. Recommendations from Third Working Group Experiences and Lessons Learned from Counter Terrorism Adopted by the Plenary Session 1. The essential basis for success is an effective national cross-government counter-terrorism strategy, which sets out clear and measurable objects for all relevant departments and agencies, including law enforcement, intelligence, military, interior and foreign affairs.
2. There is a requirement for effective national mechanisms for coordinating the national strategy, in particular the work of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, also in respect to regional and international cooperation.
3. Each nation is affected by the success or failure of others. It is therefore essential to have effective bilateral and multilateral mechanisms underpinned by political will for integrated law enforcement, judicial and intelligence dimensions of co-operation. These could address a range of issues, such as the legal framework for dealing with terrorist groups and their associates, extradition procedures, border controls, protecting ports and maritime transportation. Effective co-operative working is required at all stages of international counter-terrorist operations, including ad hoc multinational teams where appropriate.
4. At international level, success requires the sharing of information, techniques expertise, and equipment. There is value in the establishment of counter terrorism capacity building centers and forums with the objective of improving counter terrorism legislation, offering training and sharing equipment techniques expertise for tackling evolving terrorist organizations and methods, such as the use of internet as a tool for terrorists.
5. It is important, on voluntary basis that funds and other resources, such as high technology equipment, are made available to states needing such assistance, commensurate with the threat they face and the level of their antiterrorist operations.
6. Counter terrorist measures must be carried out in accordance with domestic and international law, with respect for human rights, also in order not to alienate communities and cause marginalization.
7. A key part of any strategy must be to identify and address factors which can be exploited by terrorists in recruiting new members and supporters.
8. Terrorists thrive on publicity by any means. Mass media, civil society and the educational system can play a crucial role in any strategy to counter terrorist propaganda and claims to legitimacy. Developing methods for reporting on terrorism that would prevent terrorists exploiting these reports in their communication.
9. Any counter terrorism strategy must ensure utmost respect, sensitivity and material assistance for victims of terrorism.

GENERAL REPORT ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH WORKSHOP AND THE MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS "Terrorist Organizations and their Formation" First: Main items of the workshop.

1. Ways of cooperation between countries to dismantle terrorist organizations and movements and prevent the recruiting, training and incitement of terrorists.
2. Deny them the use of other countries and secure areas.
3. Improve intelligence sharing.
4. Cooperate in the field of the police force, passports and the fight against terrorism.
5. Prevent the abuse of human rights and asylum laws to protect terrorists.
6. Exchange information on individuals and groups involved in carrying up terrorists acts or in potential terrorist recruiting and training.
7. Dismantle and deny the use of training camps and save havens.
8. Differentiate between legitimate religious, political, charitable and educational activities and the prevision of training and financing terrorism.
9. Make sure that religious and educational facilities are not misused or profaned.
10. Establish an international black list of the most wanted individuals.
11. Share information on members well-known to terrorist organizations.
12. Warn and enlighten parents and teachers.
13. Monitor educational and youth-related activities.
14. Prevent the misuse of voluntary and civil organizations and dismantle smoke screen organizations.
15. Lay down international criteria on tracking down terrorists and extremists and their collective activities, on fingerprints collection and other means to easily identify the suspects and actual perpetrators without causing an embarrassment to the legitimate and ordinary travelers.
16. Improve information sharing in respect of tracking down and warning so that the information will be retrieved in virtual times.

Second: Countries and Organizations participating in the workshop: France, China, India, Holland, Morocco, the Philippines, Iraq, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Australia, Jordan, Greece and Interpol Organization.

Third: Workshop sessions:

The first session:

Three countries namely, France, India and China took the floor. They led the discussion on the composition of the terrorist organizations, warning against their danger and their spread worldwide and stressing the importance and the need for developing a strategy based on collective international, regional and bilateral cooperation to fight terrorism.

These countries were unanimous to point out that the spread of terrorism and development of its means and activities makes it essential for the countries to step up their efforts and give an overriding priority to fighting terrorist organizations under all forms and guises.

The terrorist organizations have in fact penetrated the developing countries where they have shifted their tactics moving from the hard formula to the soft one to carry out terrorist acts. And in order to adapt to the new circumstances they resorted to dismantling those organizations and turned them into smaller groups that operate under the umbrella of legal entities such as charitable organizations so that it would be difficult to identify or track them down.

Second session:

The Chairman opened the session by requesting the participants in the workshop to submit a brief report on terrorist organizations and compositions, ways and means of dealing with them and dismantling them according to the experience of every single country.

Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco and Australia presented their respective experience and the measures they have initiated to fight terrorism.

At the outset, the delegate of Jordan reviewed the state of terrorist organizations, the most prominent of which is al-Qaeda, which exploits the economic and living conditions of some sections of society to recruit, train and spread its ideology among them. He emphasized that terrorists used forged passports from one country to another, a situation requiring that this issue be seriously addressed.

The delegate of Morocco, in his paper, reviewed the terrorist organizations present in Morocco. He said that these organizations targeted public and private installations and security authorities realized that the purpose of terrorism was to change the government in order to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic caliphate system. He pointed out that there were two terrorist movements in Morocco: the first is Slafiya Jihadiya, regarded as belonging to the destructive tendencies that adopts violence to achieve political objectives; that movement sees al Arab leaders as disbelievers and democracy as a set of alien ideas that are not compatible with Islamic societies. The second movement is the Moroccan Islamic Jihad Group which was founded in Sudan in 1995 and is made up of a group of Moroccans who fought in Afghanistan and now live in Europe enjoying freedom of movement.

The delegate of Bahrain reviewed in his paper the need to find effective and efficient means of combating terrorism. He said that his country supports the initiative of HRH the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia calling for the establishment of an international counter-terrorism center, and that as a complement to initiative, the Kingdom of Bahrain proposes the establishment in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council of specialized national counter-terrorism centers to be linked with a unified center for GCC countries, that would occupy its place in the international security system and serve as a focal point with the international center. He said that that it was possible to develop a unified center to become the nucleus of the GCC police and to strengthen its capability to study and analyze its information about organized and international crime. The Kingdom of Bahrain expressed its welcomed to host the headquarters of the GCC center.

Under comments on the proposal of Saudi Arabia "inviting the Interpol to compile a unified list of terrorists), delegates of Morocco, France, India and South Africa expressed their views that the Interpol's efforts are based on investigation, inspection as well as on legal and judicial measures, and so is unable to accept the legal responsibility of compiling a unified list of wanted persons. The delegate of India asked whether the Interpol is the appropriate agency to draw up the unified list of terrorists. He proposed that the international institutions should be encouraged and developed to deal with this issue in a manner not in conflict with the sovereignty of states.

The delegate of France said that the question of information exchange about terrorists and wanted individuals has achieved progress at both bilateral and multilateral levels, which is a foundation for counter-terrorism. He proposed to encourage the development of effective information exchange between states engaged in combating terrorism so that they may be on constant alert and effective in dealing with this issue, because terrorist cells have started to operate globally.

The representative of the Moroccan delegation pointed out that, after 16 May events in Casablanca, the Parliament adopted to combat terrorism, classify terrorist acts and punishments and to unify efforts and peoples authorities to enforce them and give security agencies wide-scale powers to track terrorists. He said that a number of terrorist leaders have actually been arrested and brought to justice, and that this law could be useful in this forum.

The delegate of Jordan said that from experience there was need to create a list of materials used in terrorist operations such as chemical materials and put in place laws to regulate their purchase, importation and exportation. The French delegate agreed with the delegate of Jordan on the need to create systems for the exchange of names, places, and factories manufacturing chemical materials used by terrorists. The delegate of India also supported the matter, especially the inclusion of chemical substances used at homes and which can be changed attack substances and that caution should be exercised in this matter because terrorists would opt for alternative materials for use in their operations. The delegate of Australia spoke about the experience of his country in combating terrorist organizations, stressing that the efforts of his country focus on fighting terrorism in South East Asia after the incident of Bali in Indonesia. He also stressed the global nature of Al-Qaeda. Australia has signed 9 memoranda of understanding with Asia pacific countries and is negotiating with many countries in the world. As part of these programs, Australia has given ten million dollars to Indonesia and half of that to the Philippines within the framework of the Australian Counter-terrorism Program.

Third session:

The delegate of Iraq started this session by presenting a paper titled '' Strategy of Combating Terrorism in Iraq,'' which includes classification of terrorist organizations in Iraq as follows:

1- Foreign terrorist organizations:
These use various names and the most prominent means of carrying out their terrorist operations is the use of explosive-laden vehicles driven by suicide bombers.
2- Remnants of the former Iraqi government: they have a long experience in conducting various kinds of terrorism. Some of these include the use of intelligence organs, the general security and the remnants of the defunct Baath party, Saddam loyalists' organizations and special security organs of the last regime.
3- Criminals with antecedents:
These are professional criminals who are involved in killings and armed robberies. These people after the fall of the last regime and in the absence of security use weapons collectively against innocent civilians to terrorize them.
4- Hired terrorists:
They are persons who either hired or Iraqis who carry out terrorist activities in the interests of foreigners.
He presented a list of these organizations supporting terrorism which includes fifteen organizations. He called for supporting Iraq in its war against terrorism as well as the effort of the government in combating this phenomenon so that Iraq will live in security and stability. He called for the importance of the assistance of Iraq's neighbors to control their borders, arrest infiltrators, and bring them to justice. He stressed that combating terrorism comes through elimination of financing and provision of necessary and adequate information about terrorists. He stressed the role of the media in explaining the danger of terrorism, the importance of the role of religious men, politicians and the elite in this regard.

After that, the delegate from Uzbekistan presented a paper on the efforts made by his country in combating terrorism. He pointed out that, in recent years, Uzbekistan benefited from the experiences and expertise of other states and called for harmonization of the national legislation on combating terrorism. He stressed that the fight against terrorism constitutes one of the priorities of the police and law enforcement agents in his country and that his country is prepared to participate fully in any action aimed at eradicating this phenomenon including the provision of the required expertise to other states. Fourth: Recommendations

1- Supporting for the call of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in favor of the creation of an international center for combating terrorism which will undertake, among other things, to develop a mechanism for exchanging information and expertise between states in the field of combating terrorism, and for linking the national centers for combating terrorism with a database which enables the fastest updating of possible information considering that the fight against terrorism is a collective effort requiring maximum cooperation and coordination among states and full readiness to exchange security information and intelligence instantly between specialized organs through secure equipment.
2- Encouraging states to set up national centers specialized in combating terrorism, and calling on them to create similar centers on the regional level to facilitate intelligence sharing, exchange of real time operational information developing mechanisms and technologies for data collection and analysis to thwart the preparation of terrorist operations and undermine the networks of recruitment, training, support and financing of terrorists, and coordination between relevant international bodies and other regional centers.
3- Inviting Interpol to consider how it could most effectively reinforce its extensive existing work against terrorism and calling on all member of Interpol to contribute promptly and actively to the maintenance of an up-to-date list of wanted terrorists.
4- Encouraging states to adopt national legislation and procedures capable of preventing terrorist from utilizing asylum and immigration law to reach safe havens or to use states' territories as bases for recruitment , training, planning, instigation, and for the launching of terrorist operations against other states.
5- Establishing, whenever appropriate, task forces to fight terrorism that would be composed of elements from law enforcement agencies and security forces and training them to deal with terrorist networks.
6- Developing domestic laws on fighting terrorism by criminalizing all terrorist acts including financing of terrorist activities.
7- Supporting and assisting developing countries in establishing early-warning mechanisms, management of crises and improve capabilities of those dealing with crises and situation of terror.
8- Increasing interaction with the media to enhance people's awareness as to the dangers of terrorism and so that the media would not be used or manipulated by the terrorists.
9- Strengthening relations with non-government organizations to ensure an effective contribution to information-sharing relating to the fight against terrorism.
10- Supporting and contributing to the Interpol data base in respect to lost passports and other travel documents whereby it will be possible to identify the place and numbers of those passport in order to reduce the movements of the tourists, and encouraging adopting of high technology-related international criteria through international cooperation and technical assistance as may be necessary to prevent forging passports and using them by terrorist groups to travel from one country to another.

Chairman Jordan Delegation