"Individually and collectively, we
will deny terrorists the capacity to operate in this Hemisphere.
This American family stands united."
–Hemisphere’s
Ministers of Foreign Affairs, September 21, 2001
The events
of September 11, 2001, brought renewed focus to anti-terrorism
efforts in the Americas. On the day of the attacks the
hemisphere’s foreign ministers happened to be meeting in Peru to
adopt the
Inter-American Democratic Charter, and they moved
quickly to make the fight against terrorism a priority.
Ten
days after the 9/11 attacks, the foreign ministers reconvened at
OAS headquarters in Washington for an urgent Meeting of
Consultation. They called on the member states to "take
effective measures to deny terrorist groups the ability to
operate within their territories," and to work together to
pursue those responsible for the attacks and bring them to
justice, strengthening cooperation in such areas as extradition,
mutual legal assistance and information exchange. They directed
the OAS Permanent Council
to begin drafting a hemispheric anti-terrorism treaty
and to convene a meeting of the
Inter-American Committee
against Terrorism (known by its Spanish acronym, CICTE).
As then-U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell noted, the member states were
united not only in resolve, but also in sorrow; in fact, 30 of
the 34 countries represented at the OAS lost citizens in the
attacks.
Concrete Progress
One
major achievement since the 9/11 attacks has been the creation
and adoption of a comprehensive treaty to prevent, punish and
eliminate terrorism. The Inter-American Convention against
Terrorism – which was opened for signature in June 2002, during the
OAS General Assembly in Bridgetown, Barbados –
seeks to prevent the financing of terrorist activities,
strengthen border controls and increase cooperation among law
enforcement authorities in different countries, among other
measures. It calls terrorism "a serious threat to democratic
values and to international peace and security." The treaty,
which entered into force in July 2003, has been signed by all 34
member states and ratified by 13: Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Dominica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
At the OAS
Special Conference on Security, held in October 2003 in Mexico
City, the member states resolved to increase information
exchange and mutual legal assistance to suppress the financing
of terrorism, prevent the movement of terrorists and ensure that
they face prosecution. They also agreed to work together to
identify and combat new threats, including biological terrorism
and cyber-crime. "We affirm that terrorism poses a serious
threat to security, the institutions, and the democratic values
of states and to the well-being of our peoples," they said in
the Declaration on Security in the Americas.
CICTE has
led efforts to develop concrete hemispheric strategies for
confronting the threat of terrorism. In its annual meetings, it
has recommended that countries enact a range of measures to
strengthen border security, tighten customs controls, and
improve the quality of identification and travel documents.
Other recommendations have included financial controls to
prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorist
activities. The Declarations of
San Salvador
(2003),
Montevideo
(2004) and
Port-of-Spain (2005) further underscored the OAS
member states' commitment to combating terrorism and its
supporters.
At
CICTE’s most recent session, held in Trinidad and Tobago in
February, the member states said the threat of terrorism is
exacerbated by connections with money laundering, illicit
trafficking in drugs and arms, and other forms of transnational
crime. They 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.”
At the OAS, CICTE’s technical secretariat has significantly
expanded its capacity-building and technical
advisory services to member states. In cooperation with several
partners, it has trained over 500 port and airport security
officials from 32 countries, to help them meet today’s new
security standards for international shipping and civil
aviation. It has held courses in port security in Argentina,
Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica,
Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, and is planning additional
courses in the region. In the last year, CICTE has also advised
22 governments of OAS member states on how to integrate into
national legislation the requirements established in
international counter-terrorism conventions.
CICTE has
also been working with member states to help improve
coordination of customs and immigration services at ports and
border crossings, a critical line of defense against terrorism.
Last year, CICTE and the
Inter-American Drug Abuse Control
Commission (CICAD) helped organize a major symposium in
Vancouver, Canada, on how to increase cross-border cooperation
in such areas as immigration, law enforcement, customs and
justice. Experts from 30 OAS member states shared best practices
and identified common challenges. CICTE has also begun a program
to help develop professional standards for customs officials,
conducting a series of workshops throughout the hemisphere.
Another project in the works is the development of a regional
network of Cyber-Security Alert Centers to increase safeguards
of communications and computer infrastructures. Government
experts on computer security from around the Americas met
September 14-16 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to further their
cooperation in this area.
CICTE has
also played a role beyond the region. An active participant in
meetings of the
United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC),
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF), among other organizations, CICTE is considered a model for other regional organizations
engaged in counter-terrorism.
Terrorism Not a New Problem
Although
September 11 brought a new sense of urgency to the problem,
these were not the first terrorist attacks perpetrated in the
Americas. In 1992, for example, bombs exploded at the Israeli
Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 22 people; two years later, 86
people died in the bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual
Association building. In 1996, the Japanese Embassy in Peru was
seized by rebels who held 72 dignitaries for more than four
months.
Terrorism
is an everyday reality in Colombia. The October 2003 Special
Conference on Security expressed its solidarity with the people
and government of Colombia "in their fight against terrorism and
other destabilizing threats and the defense of their democratic
institutions."
In 2002,
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a
comprehensive Report on Terrorism and Human Rights, which is
intended to help legislators and other policymakers develop
responses to terrorism that take into account standards
established in international law. The Inter-American Convention
against Terrorism specifies that measures taken by the states
under the treaty "shall take place with full respect for the
rule of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms."
Last
update: October 2005
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