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REGION RENEWS COMMITMENT TO COMBAT ALL FORMS OF TERRORISM

PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – The Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) concluded its fifth regular session today with a renewed commitment to prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism “in all its forms and manifestations, whatever its origin or motivation.”

Reaffirming that terrorism “has no justification whatsoever,” the member states agreed to work within their own countries, sub-regions and the hemisphere as a whole to confront this scourge. The threat of terrorism is exacerbated by connections with money laundering, illicit trafficking in drugs and arms, and other forms of transnational organized crime, they said in the “Declaration of Port-of-Spain on Strengthening Cooperation on Strategies to Sustain and Advance the Hemispheric Fight against Terrorism,” adopted at the end of Thursday’s deliberations.

The member states said urgent measures are needed to strengthen cooperation and information exchange “with the aim of locating, capturing, prosecuting, and punishing the sponsors, organizers, and perpetrators of terrorist acts, as well as of identifying and freezing assets and resources used to facilitate, promote, or commit such acts.”

In the Declaration of Port-of-Spain, they also affirmed the need to support cooperation on cross-border management, improve the security and integrity of official documents, develop ways to rapidly disseminate warnings about cybersecurity threats, and intensify efforts to disrupt the capacity of terrorist networks to threaten safe travel and recreation in the member states, among other measures.

In closing the three-day session today, CICTE Chair Martin Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security, acknowledged that implementing the anti-terrorism body’s ambitious and expanding work plan will require continued political, human and financial support. He thanked the United States for its additional contribution of $1.6 million to CICTE, announced by the head of the U.S. delegation, Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, during Thursday’s session.

Joseph, who will chair CICTE during the coming year, called the OAS body “a unique inter-American forum for dialogue, policymaking and action in counter-terrorism matters – a forum which must constantly be a forerunner in the fight against terrorism.”

The CICTE work plan adopted here recommends a range of measures designed to enhance coordination and information-sharing related to border and customs controls, the prevention of money laundering, and the strengthening of cybersecurity and aviation and maritime security.

Reference: CICTE-TT-2