19-10-04 - Open debate on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts

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Mr President,

It is my honour to address the Council on behalf of the members of the Pacific Islands Forum group of countries that maintain permanent missions in New York -namely: Australia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Palau, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and my own country, Samoa.

Mr President,

The countries of the Pacific Islands Forum group reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all its forms, and our continuing determination to fight against terrorism by all means possible, consistent with human rights and the rule of law.

Only recently have we witnessed, again, the horror of terrorist atrocities -in Beslan, in Jakarta and elsewhere. These attacks have underlined the fact that while terrorist acts may permeate national borders, the indiscriminate nature of terrorism means that no peoples or countries will ever be immune to the threat of terrorist violence.

Terrorism is now, more than ever, a threat that must be confronted by a collective international response.

Mr President,

It is clear that if we are to effectively eliminate this global threat, we must take action at the national, regional, and international levels.

Pacific Islands Forum members are committed, individually and collectively to the international campaign against terrorism. In the 2002 Nasonini Declaration on Regional Security, Forum Leaders:

“underlined their commitment to the importance of global efforts to combat terrorism and to implement internationally agreed anti-terrorism measures, such as SCR 1373 and the Financial Action Task Force Special Recommendations.”

Subsequent Forum Leaders communiqu�s have reiterated the Forum members’ commitment to combating terrorism.

Mr President,

The Pacific Islands Forum continues to support the work of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee established under Security Council resolution 1373. We also welcome the recently adopted Security Council resolution 1566, which further endorses the work of the UN Committees responding to terrorism and establishes a working group to consider further measures which could be taken. In our last statement on this issue in March 2004, we welcomed the report of the CTC on its revitalization, and the establishment of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), aimed at improving the ability of the CTC to monitor the implementation of Resolution 1373. We look forward to cooperating closely with the CTED in identifying and providing capacity building needed most by small developing countries.

Mr President,

Security Council Resolution 1373 introduced important new multilateral counter-terrorism obligations. It set out clear requirements and called on States to implement specific measures to meet these; and then to report measures taken by member states to meet them to the CTC. For Pacific Island Forum members, the focus, to date, has been on cooperation to improve our capacity to meet international counter-terrorism obligations. Pacific Islands Forum members are continuing to cooperate, bilaterally, and regionally, in both political and technical spheres, to implement SCR 1373.

Progress is being made. In May, New Zealand hosted a Pacific Roundtable on Counter-Terrorism. The Roundtable brought officials from around the Forum region together, to take stock of the range of current and imminent counter-terrorism obligations; canvass the impediments to Pacific Island country implementation; and to review current and future capacity-building programmes.

At the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Samoa, Leaders called for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism, and endorsed a number of practical initiatives proposed by Round table participants. These included: establishment of a network of central contact points; a counterterrorism working group in advance of the 2005 meeting of the Forum Regional Security Committee; further work on extradition and mutual legal assistance; and coordination of views on the possibility of holding a regional counter-terrorism contingency planning exercise. Leaders also welcomed the establishment of the Pacific Trans-national Crime Coordination Centre (PTCCC) in Suva, which will harness and enhance the law enforcement intelligence generated by the national Transnational Crime Units.

These regional efforts underscore the willingness of the Pacific Forum states to play a responsible and meaningful role in the global fight against terrorism. But for these initiatives, including the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre to be fully operationalised, financial and technical support is needed from the international community to complement the region’s own resources.

Mr President,

While Pacific Island Forum members remain firmly committed to the international campaign against terrorism, I would like to emphasise that the Pacific Islands Forum group consists primarily of developing states, many of them small island states.

We note that small developing countries do not always have opportunities to provide input into the process of developing international counter-terrorism standards. As a result, such standards may not adequately reflect, or make allowances for, the challenges that many of us face in implementing them.

Compliance with the raft of international counter-terrorism standards – particularly those introduced since 9/11 has been challenging. Meeting reporting requirements – including to the CTC – is equally so.

Mr President,

It is not a lack of will, but more often a lack of resources and technical expertise that prevents us from fulfilling our commitments.

As such, we welcome and encourage consultation between member States and the CTC that aim to extend assistance to small and developing states; and that are focused on devising practical solutions to these challenges – solutions that help reduce the burden on smaller developing states, but which will also ensure that the important CTC reporting requirements can be met.

For example, Mr President, we would encourage the CTC to consider whether a Pacific regional report, submitted by the Pacific islands Forum Secretariat on behalf of, and in close cooperation with, its member countries, might provide a possible option to assist those small island countries meet their reporting obligations to the CTC.

Mr President

We live in a time when terrorism is a threat to us all. As we strive to meet this threat, and as we work to implement the letter and spirit of Resolution 1373, the Security Council and the Counter-Terrorism Committee can be assured of the continuing support of the members of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Thank you Mr President.