Kofi Annan Outlines New UN Global Strategy to Combat Terrorism

By Victor Comras

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan used the Madrid International Summit on Democracy, Security and Terrorism to outlined what he called a new �principled, comprehensive strategy to fight terrorism globally.� He was responding to the recommendations of a High Level Panel established last year that addressed 'threats, challenges, and changes� facing the organization. High on its list of findings was the inadequate United Nations response to international terrorism. The report found that the United Nations �has not made the best use of its assets in the fight against terrorism and needs to articulate an effective and principled counter-terrorism strategy.� (see my earlier posting)

The new strategy outlined by the Secretary General in a speech March 10 in Madrid would engage the broad spectrum of UN organs, including the Secretariat, the Security Council, the General Assembly, and many of the UN subsidiary and specialized agencies. It would seek to:

-- Dissuade disaffected groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic to achieve their goals;
-- Deny terrorists the means to carry out their attacks;
-- Deter States from supporting terrorists;
-- Develop State capacity to prevent terrorism; and
-- Defend human rights in the struggle against terrorism.

The high level panel also placed great emphasis on the need to develop an international binding definition of terrorism that would provide the basis for a common commitment to act against all persons and entities that engage in terrorism. The absence of such an agreed definition has provided many countries with enough �wiggle room� to avoid taking on their international responsibilities in this regard. The definition put forth by the High Level Panel is simply and straightforward. �Any action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non combatants, with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a Government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.� The Secretaru General made achieving such an agreed definition a pillar of this new strategy.

These are lofty and difficult goals, and their realization should be supported and assisted by all of us. But, these goals can only be reached if the United Nations is willing to do some of the things it does, differently. The devil will be in the details, and developing the necessary political consensus to adopt these measures may prove quite difficult. Beyond that, the UN must find new ways to hold its members accountable when they fail to comply with any new or existing measures. Unfortunately, the United Nations has not been very successful, to date, in this regard.

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