United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Working with the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force

UNODC, as being a key UN entity for delivering counter-terrorism legal and related technical assistance, actively participates in the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, thus ensuring that UNODC's counter-terrorism work is fully carried out in the broader context of and coordinated with the UN system-wide efforts.

The Task Force, established by the Secretary-General in June 2005, is a coordinating and information-sharing body of an advisory nature and it serves as a forum to discuss strategic issues and develop policy recommendations. Chaired by the Office of the Secretary-General, it brings together 24 key actors of the UN system and its partners that can contribute to an effective coordinated fight against terrorism.

The Task Force has developed a programme of work and established working groups to address priority issues such as financing of terrorism; human rights; radicalization and extremism that lead to terrorism; use of the Internet for terrorist purposes; victims of terrorism; and vulnerable targets. UNODC is co-chairing the working groups on facilitating integrated implementation of the Strategy, elaborating techniques and mechanisms to evaluate technical assistance and tackling the financing of terrorism.

UNODC also contributed to the Counter-Terrorism Online Handbook set up by the Task Force and launched by the Secretary-General at an informal meeting of the General Assembly in February 2007. This online resource tool serves to centralize and disseminate information on the counter-terrorism-related resources and activities of the United Nations system.

Symposium on Advancing the Implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

The Symposium, jointly organized by the Government of Austria, the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (EOSG), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was held in Vienna on 17-18 May 2007 and attended by more than 350 participants, representing 107 Member States and many international, subregional and regional organizations.

The purpose of the Symposium was:

to raise awareness of the Global Strategy and its more than 50 practical recommendations and provisions,
to promote its implementation as well as
to identify measures for assisting Member States in this endeavour, including by mobilizing enhanced support for the work of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.

The symposium drew on UNODC's experience and expertise in providing technical assistance to Member States on counter-terrorism and related legal issues.

The Symposium was composed of six thematic parts:

Theme 1: The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy: An integrated approach in addressing terrorism

Theme 2: Implementing measures to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism

Theme 3: Enhancing measures to prevent and combat terrorism

Theme 4: Increasing States' capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and strengthening the role of the United Nations system: Lessons learned from UNODC's technical assistance delivery

Theme 5: Respecting human rights for all and the rule of law as fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism

Theme 6: The way ahead-Advancing the implementation of the Strategy

The proceedings of the Symposium are available in a publication (pdf)