UNODC’s Director of the Division for Treaty Affairs, Mr. John Brandolino, expressed his appreciation to participants and highlighted that the transnational nature of the threat of nuclear terrorism “requires a dedicated and coordinated response from the international community and Member States.”
Mr. John Buchanan, Coordinator of INTERPOL’s Radiological Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Unit shared the perspective of his organization in assessing and addressing threats of nuclear terrorism. UNODC experts provided the audience with an overview of the provisions within ICSANT that could effectively assist States parties in preventing and suppressing terrorism and other criminal conduct involving nuclear or other radioactive material. In this context, participants were informed on how to access the various types of support that UNODC and UNCCT had to offer, such as capacity building, legislative assistance, e-learning modules and other tools and resources.
Mr. Hubert K Foy, Director of the African Center for Science and International Security (AFRICSIS) provided participants with insight into the implementation of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its Amendment with a view to drawing lessons for the success of adherence to, and implementation of, ICSANT within the region. Mr Foy addressed the issue of competing priorities and highlighted that the lesson learned in this regard was “collective effort”, namely through close cooperation among African States and relevant international organizations. He highlighted that “collective effort enhances knowledge sharing, resource allocation and capacity building.”
