Check against delivery

I am honoured to deliver remarks on behalf of the European Union and its Member States on the occasion of the eighth review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

The Candidate Countries Serbia, Albania*, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina*, the potential candidate country Georgia, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Let me start by welcoming the adoption by consensus of the resolution on the eighth review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and by thanking the co-facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Canada and Tunisia, for their tireless efforts in advancing the process with the aim of ensuring that the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is updated to reflect the threat and the challenges we face today.

Counter-terrorism remains at the top of the EU’s agenda but also at the forefront of efforts to promote peace and security. The evolving threat of terrorism and of violent extremism conducive to terrorism, in all their forms and irrespective of their origin, continues to pose a major risk to all of us. The continuous threat by Al-Qaida and Da’esh in Afghanistan and Central Asia as well as the growing threat posed by affiliated groups in West Africa, from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea, in Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as the persistent threats in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere attest to this. The threat posed by terrorist groups and lone actors is very present in many place including Europe as well. The growth of politically motivated extremism and terrorism in the past years is also a source of concern.

Equally, the misuse of emerging technologies for terrorist purposes and new avenues for terrorist financing highlight the need for enhanced multilateral engagement and strengthened cooperation in accordance with our commonly shared principles.

We must continue to work together to build upon progress achieved, while better prioritizing and coordinating our activities. We must adapt and improve the tools required to address the threat. And we must ensure that our efforts are in line with our common fundamental values. The eighth review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy gives us the opportunity to refocus our attention in that regard.

The European Union and its Member States welcome that the review takes into account some of these issues. But we also think that many challenges remain. Despite several months of inclusive consultations led by the co-facilitators, the text we adopted today is close to a technical rollover. Our sincere hope is that the next review will see the implementation of an ambitious consensus, which corresponds to the challenges we all face.

The threat of terrorism and violent extremism is real and requires action. It is also necessary to ensure that these actions respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and are not used against civil society. It is therefore all the more important that we continue to implement the Strategy following the direction that we set out in the last review and confirmed in this one.

The European Union takes this opportunity to reaffirm the importance of redoubling efforts to pay equal attention to each of the four pillars. In order to achieve that, we must strengthen in particular actions under the fourth pillar, which concerns human rights and the rule of law.

In the face of terrorist attacks, the European Union and its Member States uphold the common values that underpin our pluralist societies and continue to pursue efforts to defend them with determination. Respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law are complementary and mutually reinforcing with effective counter-terrorism measures and are an essential part of a successful counter-terrorism effort.

Efforts to combat terrorism must never serve as a pretext for human rights violations. We continue to insist that Member States must ensure that any measures taken to counter terrorism comply with the rule of law and all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law. What is more, counter-terrorism measures must not be misused to suppress perceived dissent and silence human rights defenders. That includes instances of reprisal for engagement with the United Nations. In this regard, we welcome the Global Study on the impact of Counter-terrorism on civil society and civic space, launched yesterday by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.

Civil society and human rights defenders play an essential role in guiding States in their fight against terrorism and violent extremism. In the face of a continued shrinking of the civic space, we should continue our efforts to ensure better protection for civil society representatives and human rights defenders, as well as continue to pay due attention to the gender dimension. In our collective efforts to implement the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy over the coming years, we must seek to bridge the remaining divides among us in this regard. In that respect, the EU looks to the leadership of Under-Secretary-General Voronkov and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN-Women and other Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities.

The EU and its member States fully support a whole-of-society approach to implementing the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and calls for strengthened collaboration and cooperation between Governments and civil society. Only by embracing human rights and the rule of law can Governments create an enabling environment for local authorities and civil society to help counter radicalization and violent extremism. In addition, we cannot insist enough on the importance of the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women in efforts to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism. We therefore welcome the new reference to women-led civil society organisations in the Strategy. It represents a significant step in the right direction.

We must also protect the humanitarian space. Countering terrorism and providing humanitarian assistance are mutually inclusive objectives. We must implement robust counter-terrorism measures and at the same time ensure the protection of humanitarian space. We therefore welcome the inclusion of a reference to Security Council Resolution 2664 in the Strategy, which does exactly that with regard to sanctions. It introduces a carve-out for the provision of humanitarian assistance and support for basic human needs from the scope of UN sanctions, including counter-terrorism sanctions. At the same time, we regret that it proved impossible to highlight even further the significance of Resolution 2664 for the Strategy.

Given that terrorist organizations have demonstrated a formidable capacity for adaptation, we must step up our efforts to isolate terrorists by drying up all their sources of financing. That requires financial and non-financial oversight mechanisms, while following the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, as well as addressing developments such as crypto currencies. We regret that these elements have not been included in the resolution since they would have increased to increase the financial pressure on terrorists.

We must address all forms of violent extremism, including politically motivated violent extremism and terrorism, as well as the threat from the far right and far left. We need to continue to address this threat where it exists and where it has a transnational dimension.

We must tackle the misuse of information and communication technologies through a multi-stakeholder approach, including by working with civil society and in close cooperation with the private sector, while providing alternative narratives. This was successfully emphasized by the Christchurch Call to Action, in the strategic appeals of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and through the removal of terrorist content online. More work is needed to strengthen dialogue with ICT companies and to conduct research on the role of algorithms in the spreading of terrorist material online.

Let me turn now to the institutional perspective. The EU and its Member States strive to ensure that space for human rights checks and balances within the United Nations counter-terrorism institutional structures are well in place and that engagement with civil society is strengthened at all levels while ensuring a gender-responsive approach. Building on the seventh review and in light of the establishment of a Human Rights and Gender Section in the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in January 2022, we encourage the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism and all Global Compact entities to continue their efforts for better mainstreaming of human rights and gender as cross-cutting issues across the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, as well as for all counter-terrorism activities. Although we regret that consensus escaped delegations with regard to a more ambitious language in the Strategy, we recognise the significance of exchanges of views during the review process. We look forward to sustained progress and continued reporting on these efforts.

We also wish to insist that it is crucial that the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and the Global Compact enhance their coordination and coherence in the field through consultative interagency efforts. They should integrate their field-level engagement, including among resident coordinators and within United Nations country teams, in order to support such broader United Nations peace and security and development agendas as the Secretary-General’s reforms and his prevention agenda.

We welcome that the Strategy calls for future reporting on the implementation of all four pillars the Strategy to rely on a results framework. This will allow Member States to monitor and, ultimately, assess the overall impact and comprehensive, integrated implementation of the Strategy. Monitoring and evaluation standards are a widely recognized concept for quality assurance, and we should strive to implement them in United Nations counter-terrorism efforts.

The EU and its Member States remain committed to multilateralism and support global efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremism in support of the United Nations, including through the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), that the EU is co-chairing together with Egypt. As strong evidence of our commitment to effectively countering the threat of global terrorism, the EU devotes considerable financial resources to counter-terrorism capacity-building partnerships that underpin the implementation of the United Nations Strategy. The EU and its MS are among the prime contributors to the global compact.

Once again, we would like to thank the co-facilitators tireless efforts in this process. We would also like to commend their proactive engagement with civil society. For our part, we would like to thank civil society for their constructive partnership and cooperation throughout this process. It provides insights for our deliberations whose importance cannot be overstated.

The EU and its Member States will continue their steadfast support for and collaboration with the United Nations, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and all the Compact entities, as well as the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, with a view to achieving the full implementation of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Countering terrorism is a priority we all share. Together we — the United Nations, the European Union, the Member States — have been tirelessly committed to mitigating this scourge. Only together can we put a stop to terrorists and their backers.

Thank you.