OSCE PA delegation in Istanbul holding the new Parliamentary Handbook on the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001)ISTANBUL, 9 May 2024 – Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly joined parliamentarians from around the world in Istanbul over the past two days to participate in the Fifth Meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Coordination Mechanism of Parliamentary Assemblies. Organized under the aegis of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Programme Office on Parliamentary Engagement in co-operation with the OSCE PA, the event was the latest in a series of regular parliamentary meetings aimed at enhancing collaboration among parliamentary assemblies on counter-terrorism and preventing violent extremism.
More than 80 participants from 18 parliamentary assemblies from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East – including seven members from the OSCE PA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism (CCT) – attended the hybrid meeting.
OSCE PA Vice-President and Chair of the CCT Reinhold Lopatka (Austria), who currently serves as President of the Coordination Mechanism on behalf of the OSCE PA, spoke at the opening. “The Coordination Mechanism is a platform that has demonstrated its importance, not only as a means to share insights and co-ordinate actions, but also to strengthen partnerships and reinforce our determination to address the challenges of terrorism and violent extremism, and I hope it will continue this way,” Lopatka said.
OSCE parliamentarians and members of other parliamentary assemblies discussed with experts the main regional security trends and key terrorism-related issues, as well as the importance of ensuring and protecting human rights in preventing and countering terrorism. The representatives of parliamentary assemblies also shared their workplans for 2024 and discussed potential joint initiatives for 2024 and 2025.
During the event, the UNOCT launched its new Parliamentary Handbook on the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). This Handbook – which was developed with input of the OSCE PA – serves as a reference tool for parliamentarians as they set out to propose, discuss, amend, and adopt legislation and national strategies related to countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism in all its forms.
Emanuele Loperfido speaks at the Counter-Terrorism Co-ordination Meeting of Parliamentary Assemblies, Ankara, 8 May 2024The meeting of parliamentary assemblies continued today with the Third Parliamentary Policy Dialogue dedicated to the Protection of Religious Sites, Symbols and Objects. Participants have shared experiences on existing legislative practices on the protection of so-called soft/vulnerable targets, and in particular of religious sites and symbols, and reviewed relevant recommendations and practices by international organizations in this field.
In addition to Vice-President Lopatka, CCT Vice-Chair Kamil Aydin (Türkiye) and CCT members Paula Cardoso (Portugal), Emanuele Loperfido (Italy), Sverre Myrli (Norway), Tsogtbaatar Damdin (Mongolia) and Ricardo Tarno (Spain) actively engaged in the policy discussions, showcasing relevant OSCE PA initiatives in this context. Expert Daniel Golston from the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit further presented related projects from the intergovernmental side.
On the sidelines of the event, CCT Chair Lopatka had a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Chizhov, member of the Russian Federation’s Delegation to the OSCE PA.
The OSCE PA participation in the Istanbul event followed two days of meetings in Ankara, in which CCT members met with high-level representatives of the government and parliament, as well as experts in the field of counter-terrorism, to assess regional challenges, discuss the Turkish experience in fighting violent extremism, and boost international co-operation on counter-terrorism.
For more information on the work of the CCT, please click here.
