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UN initiates plan to combat terrorist threads in Central Asia

08 September 2010 03:28 (UTC +04:00)

Currently the region’s five countries, which include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have been spared large-scale terrorist attacks, Miroslav Jenca, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative and head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), said in a press briefing here.

But various extremist, terrorist and criminal organizations have the potential to intensify their activities due to instability in the wider region and porous borders through which extremism and criminal networks penetrate the region, Jenca said, noting that the launch of the project is "very timely," given the proximity of Afghanistan to the region as well as recent events in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

"Prevention of terrorism in Central Asia is key not only to protecting the well-being of populations and ensuring national and regional stability, it is also a matter of global concern, given that the wider region is fast becoming the main front on the global war against terror," he said.

A series of expert meetings will be held in the region in the following months to enhance cooperation and international partnership, which should lead to the adoption of a joint plan in 2011.

The UN General Assembly will meet on Wednesday to review the UN global strategy to counter-terrorism for the second time.

That strategy, unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in 2006, focuses on four key pillars of action: tackling the conditions conductive to the spread of terrorism; preventing and combating terrorism; building state capacity and bolstering the role of the UN, and ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law against the backdrop of the fight against terrorism.

According to Geoffrey Shaw of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the current response mechanisms are "well established and robust, but have no room for complacency."

"Systems can always be fine-tuned," Shaw said in the press briefing here on Tuesday.

"We all know that hard power measures alone have not succeeded to stop terrorist attacks. Now it is particularly imperative that the use of force to fight terrorism should be combined with prevent measures to stop potential terrorist recruitment, training and attacks before they happen," said Jean-Paul Laborde, chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), who was also present at the briefing.

Therefore, Laborde asked member states to double their efforts in implementing the strategy, which consists of measures against the spread of capacity building and soft power measures such as political exclusion, education, interested dialogue, socio- economic marginalization, lack of governance, respect for human rights and preventive diplomacy.

"For the strategy to be implemented successfully it should be well known by all member states in the field which is not the case at this moment," said Laborde, noting that awareness needs to be spread.

"The thread of terrorists getting access to using chemical, biological, nuclear weapons is real and immediate," said Shaw.

On average the IAEA receives a report every two days of a new incident involving improper use of nuclear or radioactive material, Shaw told reporters, pointing out that access to weapons of mass destruction is frightening, because "if they have it, they’ll use it."