UNITED NATIONS ACTION TO

COUNTER TERRORISM
Fact Sheet
Pillar III

Building state capacity to counter terrorism

In the Strategy, Member States recognized capacity-building as the cornerstone

of a global effort to counter terrorism. Under this third pillar of actions, the
strategy calls for the international community, particularly the United Nations
system, to provide technical assistance to identify gaps or vulnerabilities, to
provide opportunities for information exchange and networking that could lead
to inter-state cooperation and sharing of “best practices” and to raise public
awareness about the threat of terrorism.

CTITF members have pursued efforts collectively through working groups on

‘Integrated Assistance for Countering Terrorism (I-ACT)’ and Strengthening
the Protection of vulnerable Targets.’ The activities of these Working Groups
include assisting interested Member States in implementing the Strategy in an
integrated manner; and applied research on the development of public-private
partnership for the protection of vulnerable targets, aimed at identifying rel-
evant practices and experiences that could guide actions of Member States
willing to enhance the level of public-private cooperation in the protection of
vulnerable targets.

The Task Force Working Group on “Tackling the financing of terrorism”, which
is co-chaired by the World Bank, IMF and UNODC, published a Report in Octo-
ber 2009 on Tackling the Financing of Terrorism. The report contains a total of
36 findings and 45 recommendations that are intended to help Member States
increase the effectiveness of efforts to combat the financing of terrorism. Five
areas are covered: (a) the criminalization of terrorist financing; (b) the enhance-
ment of domestic and international cooperation; (c) value transfer systems; (d)
non-profit organizations; and (e) the freezing of assets. IMF has prepared an
Action Plan containing proposals to implement the Report’s recommendations
for consideration by the members of the Working Group.

The Office of Legal Affairs has prepared publications and conducted seminars
and training programs to disseminate information regarding the universal
counter-terrorism instruments and to encourage State participation in these
treaty regimes.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, through its Terrorism Preven-
tion Branch, has provided technical assistance to over 168 countries with re-
gard to the criminal justice aspects of countering terrorism; has trained more
than 10,000 national criminal justice officials and developed 19 technical as-
sistance specialized tools and publications. UNODC is assisting Member States
in developing national action plans and supporting their implementation, while
building substantive legal knowledge in specialized thematic areas, including
nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological terrorism. UNODC is helping
Member States set up sub-regional platforms to foster international legal coop-
eration in criminal matters. It has developed in-depth online training courses
and is elaborating a comprehensive legal training curriculum for criminal
justice practitioners as well as setting up a permanent virtual communication
platform. Through its Global Programme against Money Laundering, Proceeds
of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism, it delivers assistance to help Member
States implement anti-money-laundering/ countering the financing of terrorism
provisions contained in relevant conventions, resolutions and FATF recommen-
dations.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate identifies and priori-

tizes the technical assistance needs of Member States and refers these needs
to potential donor States and organizations. CTED has facilitated the success-
ful delivery of technical assistance to a wide range of States and regions since
the introduction of a revised technical assistance strategy in June 2008. It has
recently produced a Technical Guide to the Implementation of Security Council
Resolution 1373 (2001), and the 2009 Global Survey on the Implementation of
Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). A policy guidance paper on interna-
tional cooperation in combating terrorism has also been produced. The three
documents can be found on the website of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

The Monitoring Team of the 1267 Committee has collected information and re-
quests from approximately 150 Member States relating to technical assistance
needs for effective implementation of the Al-Qaida/Taliban sanctions regime. As
the Team does not have the mandate to deal with the provision of assistance, it
has forwarded this information to both the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (Terrorism Prevention Branch) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee
Executive Directorate for information and action.

With its field presence in 166 countries, the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme undertakes numerous activities to promote governance and rule of law,
including programmes to support the implementation of anti-money laundering
legislation and the strengthening of justice systems.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations provides training to national

police and law enforcement officers and officials on criminal matters including
kidnapping, information-gathering, hostage-taking, close protection, and the
investigation of assassinations, murders and bombings.

The Department of Safety and Security is responsible for coordinating the ac-
tivities of the UN integrated security management system relative to the safety
and security of UN staff, taking into account various threats, including terror-
ism.

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute in

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compliance with the UN Resolution on International Permanent Observatory
(IPO)--continued to provide support to Member States engaged in the security
preparations of major events, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and
other large-scale sporting events and high-level summits. In Europe it has
strengthened the EU-SEC Programme, enlarging its network to 22 EU Member
States and EUROPOL, while in the Americas it has launched, in cooperation
with the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, the regional programme
IPO Americas, which set up the first formal network of National Focal Points on
major events, involving 24 countries in the region.

From 2002–2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assisted

States improve nuclear security: 168 evaluation missions to help States identify
their own broad nuclear security requirements; arranging for the recovery, dis-
posal, secure storage and/or repatriation of nearly 5000 individual radioactive
sources; helping States to enhance their capabilities to combat illicit traffick-
ing through training and the provision of approximately 3000 instruments for
radiation detection; helping States to improve prevention measures by upgrad-
ing the security of 16 nuclear facilities and 100 sites housing other radioactive
material; publishing 11 guidance documents in the Nuclear Security Series;
providing nuclear security training to approximately 9000 people; implementing
projects to assist States in enhancing the nuclear of five major public events;
and, operating a 24 hour contact network to facilitate States’ cooperation in the
event of a nuclear accident or a radiological emergency. The Agency also helps
States to implement current and future undertakings under the legal instru-
ments that form the strengthened international platform in the area of nuclear
security, such as the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materi-
als and its amendment, the Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism and Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004).

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) contributes

to global anti-terrorism efforts by promoting universal adherence to the Chemi-
cal Weapons Convention and through the implementation of its mandate, in-
cluding maintaining a high degree of readiness to provide assistance in the case
of any use or threat of use of chemical weapons. At the same time, the Technical
Secretariat is convinced that there are fields in which there is room for further
constructive interactions among its Member States- for example, with regard to
safety and security at chemical plants. Although the OPCW and its verification
regime were not designed to detect small-scale production or improvised use of
toxic chemicals by terrorist, or to fight terrorism in general, the OPCW and its
verification regime offer useful tools for Member States to address this emerg-
ing threat.

Through its Global Programme on Maritime Security, the International Mari-

time Organization (IMO) has conducted 72 country needs assessment and ad-
visory missions, 72 national and 59 regional seminars, workshops or courses
resulting in the training of some 6,100 persons on methods for ensuring mari-

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time security. These activities aimed to raise awareness to maritime security
through the understanding and implementation of International Convention for
the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) chapter XI-2 and the International Ship and
Port Facility Security Code. IMO also conducted regional initiatives, in coordi-
nation with other United Nations partners, to promote national and regional
inter-agency cooperation to address maritime terrorism in the wider context of
maritime security, suppressing maritime crime, and developing maritime situ-
ational awareness.

The International Monetary Fund has conducted, since early 2002, 61 country
assessments on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Ter-
rorism (AML/CFT) capacity. The Fund has provided technical assistance to
222 countries, through national and regional training workshops and tailored
capacity building assistance such as drafting of legislation and strengthening
of financial sector supervision for AML/CFT. About 2,470 officials have partici-
pated in IMF-led workshops over the last five years.

The World Bank has conducted 32 assessments – 11 jointly with the IMF – on
Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
compliance since 2001. Throughout this period, approximately 300 technical as-
sistance missions were performed on a bilateral or regional basis to strengthen
all components of an AML/CFT regime. In addition, the World Bank has under-
taken 14 bilateral remittance corridor analyses that offer sending and receiving
countries new information on the characteristics of remittance flows. This infor-
mation provides the basis for policy reviews to promote increased flows at lower
costs, while enabling better compliance with AML/CFT standards.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization provides

frameworks supporting human rights-based approaches to education, learning
materials and curricula to promote inclusive pedagogies and diversified content.
Inter-university solidarity, understanding and dialogue are promoted through
the network of 550 UNESCO Chairs, the Global Learning Portal and the UNIT-
WIN programme, which provides opportunities for young people in all regions.
UNESCO has also prepared a code of conduct for scientists to help deter the use
of scientific work for terrorist purposes.

The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)* coordinates

numerous training programmes aimed at enhancing the capacity of States to
combat terrorism. To complement the courses, INTERPOL provides correspond-
ing Training Guides, including the “Bio-Terrorism Incident Pre-Planning and
Response Guide”. INTERPOL has also developed a Best Practices Guide in
Combating Terrorism, available on the CTC website. INTERPOL has conducted
regional workshops on Bioterrorism to and has also carried out five train-the-
trainer sessions identifying effective strategies for prevention and response,
sub-regional cooperation and assessing the legal authorization for undertaking
critical police functions.

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*While INTERPOL is not part of the UN system, it is a member of the Counter-
Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) which was established in 2005
and is chaired by the Office of the UN Secretary-General.

For more information of the Strategy-related work of CTITF entities, see the
Report of the Secretary-General “United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism
Strategy: activities of United Nations system info implementing the Strategy”
(A/64/818/ June 2010). The above inventory of United Nations counter-terrorism
related actions is based on information provided by CTITF member entities.

For more information please visit: www.un.org/terrorism.

For detailed information on the activities of CTITF working groups please visit:
http://www.un.org/terrorism/cttaskforce.shtml

Published by the Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information –
DPI/2439
September 2010