Human Rights and Rule of Law Crucial in Combating Terrorism

"The Commonwealth is intent on improving international co-operation and increasing efforts to prevent the use and abuse of the financial services sector by terrorists and terrorist organisations." Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha

She was speaking on 27 September 2005 at the opening of a three-day Consultative Meeting with Training Institutes on the Commonwealth Project on Counter-Terrorism to develop a training manual. The event, co-organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is held from 27 to 29 September 2005 at the Secretariat headquarters in London, UK.

The Deputy Secretary-General noted that enhanced counter-terrorism capacity will help to reduce the threat to global security. She stressed the Commonwealth is committed to implementing a Plan of Action on Terrorism that incorporates the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), which established a Counter-Terrorism Committee to monitor implementation of measures to combat terrorism and to help increase the capacity of countries to deal with this issue.

Mrs Mugasha stated that the Commonwealth is intent on "improving international co-operation and increasing efforts to prevent the use and abuse of the financial services sector by terrorists and terrorist organisations."

The Deputy Secretary-General said the Consultative Meeting will take forward the second phase of the counter-terrorism project that focuses on capacity-building; this exercise follows the organisation of regional workshops on legislative measures. The first phase involved the drafting of the Model Counter-Terrorism Legislation and the development of an Implementation Kit by the Secretariat for Commonwealth member states.

This meeting is aimed at the development of a counter-terrorism training manual to standardise the quality of training material provided to law enforcement agencies. Officials from non-Commonwealth countries have been invited to participate in the Consultative Meeting to strengthen collaboration through the sharing of experiences and expertise.

The delegates from 25 countries, comprising primarily of senior ranking police officers, anti-terrorism experts and prosecutors, will discuss the format and contents of the training manual on counter-terrorism. It will focus on best practices in the investigation of terrorism offences and the financing of terrorism. This manual, which is expected to be ready by the end of the year, will be introduced into the curriculum of national and regional training institutions in some 65 Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth states to assist them in their capacity to effectively combat terrorism. 

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