Director General/Executive Director
Mr. Secretary General,
Distinguished delegates,
My thanks for inviting me to address this important meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
As you know very well, the spread of terrorism and violent extremism around the world demands our urgent attention and requires collective responses.
The terrorism landscape is fast evolving, becoming more complex and more violent.
Terrorist groups have proved increasingly skilled at exploiting new technologies to radicalize and recruit young men and women.
The involvement of foreign terrorist fighters in conflicts and acts of terrorism, while not a new occurrence, has become an increasing concern.
There are more than 25,000 foreign terrorist fighters involved with groups like ISIL/Da'esh, travelling from more than 100 countries.
They pose a clear threat to destination, transit and home countries, as they travel to conflict zones, become further radicalized and receive training in terrorist tactics, and later return home where they may carry out further acts of terror.
Terrorists have also become more adept at financing themselves, including through links with transnational organized criminal networks.
The UN Security Council has recognized the acute challenges posed by the nexus of terrorists and organized crime networks, and by terrorists financing their activities through such crimes as kidnapping for ransom and trafficking in drugs, arms, cultural property, oil and other natural resources.
Given these continued and growing threats, it is imperative for all of us to work together to strengthen the legal regime against terrorism, and build national capacities to address challenges and enable international cooperation.
Without an effective legal regime against terrorism, terrorists and those who support them cannot be prosecuted, and victims are denied the justice and assistance they deserve.
Moreover, criminalizing involvement in any terrorist activity, including the financing of terrorist acts, or incitement to commit an act of terrorism, can help create a strong deterrent.
Effective counter-terrorism policies must also address regulatory frameworks for banks and other financial institutions, and build public-private partnerships to combat illicit financial flows, corruption and money laundering, in order to disrupt and prevent financial support for terrorist activities.
Stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters requires solid frameworks for regional and international cooperation, to promote information sharing and coordinated border management.
Responses must also seek to counter violent extremism and the abuse of new technologies to radicalize and recruit young people, as well as address risk areas for radicalization in prisons.
Many countries have taken decisive steps to address these challenges. Nevertheless, gaps in our collective response remain.
The Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate issued a report in September, assessing efforts of thirty-two states in Central Asia, the Maghreb, East Africa/Horn of Africa, Western Europe and Oceania/Americas to address the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters.
The report found that there is an urgent need to address problems of limited resources, insufficient training, lack of technical capacity and endemic corruption in some States, which is hampering capacity to mount effective investigations and prosecutions.
It also identified a need to strengthen the sharing of information by airlines and governments to detect the arrival or departure of foreign terrorist fighters.
Moreover, the report found gaps in Member States' legislation on countering the financing of terrorism and measures to freeze terrorist assets, as well as significant backlogs of requests for mutual legal assistance.
Parliamentarians clearly have an important role to play in strengthening our collective responses through appropriate legislation to address particular terrorist threats.
That is what Security Council resolutions call upon Member States for.
In helping to incorporate the requirements of the international instruments against terrorism into national legislation, you can support the consistency, clarity and effectiveness of counter-terrorism policies, and promote accountability and adherence to international principles.
Parliaments can further help to ensure that security services and law enforcement are invested with the powers they need to conduct effective intelligence work and investigations.
At the same time, they can promote the appropriate use of these powers while avoiding their abuse, through enhancing accountability mechanisms, civic participation and adherence to international best practices.
Forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union can support such comprehensive action, and are key partners in tackling the regional and cross-regional dimensions of terrorism.
UNODC is committed to working with you to promote implementation of the 19 universal legal instruments against terrorism, as well as the conventions against corruption and transnational organized crime.
I was recently in Bucharest to address a workshop jointly organized by UNODC and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean on the challenges posed by a preventative criminal justice response to terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters.
This follows a regional seminar held earlier this year by UNODC and PAM for parliamentarians from the Middle East and North Africa on parliamentary oversight of law enforcement and security services.
UNODC is ready to further strengthen our cooperation with IPU and regional parliamentary organizations, and I welcome your ideas in this regard.
Together we can support effective counter-terrorism responses that respect the rule of law, due process and human rights, and that help keep our societies safer.
Thank you.