Director-General/Executive Director
Under-Secretary-General Voronkov,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to join you at this Counter-Terrorism Week event to focus on UN Security Council Resolution 2349 and our collective efforts to foster sustainable peace and security in the Lake Chad Basin.
I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation to Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and the Executive Secretariat of the Lake Chad Basin Commission for being with us, as well as UNOCT and CTED for organizing this event.
We have an opportunity to pool our resources, share best practices, and learn from past experiences to make a real difference in the lives of those affected by terrorism, and UNSCR 2349 provides a robust framework to guide us in these efforts.
Today’s discussions will help us better understand the challenges facing countries in the Lake Chad Basin, which have been severely impacted by terrorism over the years.
During this time, criminal justice systems have come under increasing pressure, as they grapple with thousands of terrorism suspects.
Courts risk becoming swamped with a backlog of cases while prisons struggle with overcrowding, often holding terrorism suspects in pre-trial detention for indefinite periods of time.
Punishment and security-focused responses alone are insufficient to address these problems.
Instead, we need alternative pathways that ensure offenders are effectively screened, and provided with psychological support and vocational training, to reintegrate them back into society as productive and law-abiding citizens.
Pathways that ensure accountability for crimes that have been committed, as an essential step towards recovery and justice for victims and communities.
Above all, pathways that are grounded in human rights and the rule of law, which address the root causes of violent extremism and create the conditions for lasting, sustainable peace.
UNODC’s Global Programme on Preventing and Countering Terrorism 2022-2027, which I was proud to launch last year here in New York, strives to do just this by placing the protection of human rights and the safety of people at the core of counter-terrorism responses.
The Global Programme also seeks to leverage our long-standing partnerships, including in the Lake Chad Basin.
Since 2020, we have partnered with UNOCT and CTED to support countries in the region in developing effective screening, prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration strategies, closely coordinating also with UNDP, IOM, and the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
In Chad, we supported the development of a national action plan to help the authorities strengthen the screening of persons formerly associated with Boko Haram, which was finalized last year.
In Cameroon, we conducted a joint mission to the Far North Region in December 2022 to meet with national authorities, as well as community leaders and women formerly associated with Boko Haram.
In Niger, we are training law enforcement authorities on how to effectively collect and store evidence gathered from conflict zones, which are often a driver of terrorism, and to handle such evidence without jeopardizing its admissibility in court.
And in Nigeria, we have been restoring police evidence storage facilities and training investigators, prosecutors, judges, and defence counsels on how to prepare terrorism-related cases for trial.
Thanks to these efforts over the past six years, we have facilitated the release of over 3,000 individuals, including 580 children, due to insufficient evidence.
Children should not be defined by conflict or terrorism; they are children first and foremost. I am pleased that in 2022, the Government of Nigeria launched a call for action to protect children from terrorism and violent extremism, which endorsed the UNODC Roadmap on the Treatment of Children Associated with Terrorist Groups.
We have also been training experts on ensuring accountability for sexual and gender-based violence against women by Boko Haram, as called for in UNSCR2349.
We must provide victims of such crimes with the specialized support they need and ensure that they have access to justice, to help survivors rebuild their lives and to weaken the cycle of violence that terrorist groups exploit.
Ladies and gentlemen,
These are just some examples of the important work that we are doing in this area together with our partners.
But these good practices and lessons learned can be tailored and scaled up according to different contexts, using our field presence on the ground to guide efforts in other regions facing similar challenges, and UNODC stands ready to support Member States in this endeavour.
Thank you.