Print
See related documents
Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14121 | 13 July 2016
Foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq
1. The Committee of
Ministers welcomes Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2084 (2016)
on “Foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq”, which it has studied with
interest and communicated to the relevant steering and expert committees
for comments. The Committee of Ministers shares the view of the
Assembly, that the Council of Europe has an important contribution
to make to the efforts of the global community against terrorism.
2. At its 126th Session held in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 18 May 2016,
the Committee of Ministers welcomed the progress made in the implementation
of the Council of Europe Action Plan on the fight against violent extremism
and radicalisation leading to terrorism, adopted at its previous
Session. The Committee of Ministers called for the swift signature
and ratification of the Council of Europe’s conventions in the field
of terrorism and their protocols by those member States which have
not yet done so and by the European Union. It also called for the
expeditious designation of the 24/7 contact points to facilitate
the timely exchange of police information, as provided for by the
Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention
of Terrorism (CETS No. 217), pending its entry into force. Furthermore,
it adopted decisions concerning the Reference Framework of Competences
for Democratic Culture, the Guidelines on the protection and promotion
of human rights in culturally diverse societies and the Guidelines
for prison and probation services regarding radicalisation and violent
extremism, the General Policy Recommendation No. 15 of the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on combating hate
speech, and the necessity to reinforce the protection of victims
of terrorist acts.
3. The Council of Europe is taking a leading role in the efforts
at European level to stem the flow of persons travelling abroad
for the purpose of terrorism, by the adoption and the opening for
signature of the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention
on the Prevention of Terrorism (Riga Protocol, CETS No. 217) in
2015. The Additional Protocol targets specifically a series of criminal
activities related to the phenomenon of “foreign terrorist fighters”
without any geographical qualifications. In this context, the Committee
of Ministers would like to underline that persons travelling abroad
for terrorist purposes should be termed “foreign terrorist fighters”
to distinguish them from other categories of “fighters”. It notes
that also the United Nations Security Council in its Resolution
2178 (2014) uses the term “foreign terrorist fighters” to describe
the phenomenon of persons travelling abroad for the purpose of terrorism.
4. Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the
Assembly that the Committee of Experts on Terrorism (CODEXTER) is
currently working on a draft Recommendation on “Terrorists acting
alone”, which is also expected to touch on possible threats posed
by returning “foreign terrorist fighters” and on how to prevent
such threats (paragraph 4.3 of the Assembly Recommendation).
5. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Parliamentary Assembly
that the lack of a comprehensive legal definition of terrorism in
international law poses difficulties to the efforts of States to
bring terrorists to justice, in particular as regards the extradition
of suspects and the provision of mutual legal assistance in terrorism
cases. In this respect, it notes that in 2016-2017, the CODEXTER
will examine the legal issues involved in providing for a comprehensive
legal definition of terrorism at international (European) level (paragraph
5 of the Assembly recommendation).
6. In line with the Assembly’s recommendation, the Committee
of Ministers has taken action for the swift implementation of the
measures contained in the above-mentioned Action Plan to prevent
and fight radicalisation (paragraph 4.2 of the Assembly’s recommendation).
It is of the opinion that the current upsurge of violent extremism
has again shown the need to strengthen the democratic mission of
education. The preparation for lifelong active democratic citizenship
of all learners should be a hallmark of European education systems
and an essential part of the response to the challenges Europe is
facing.
7. The Committee of Ministers notes that the Council of Europe
Standing Conference of Ministers of Education held in Brussels on
11 and 12 April 2016 on the theme: “Securing democracy through education”, reaffirmed
the importance of education in promoting democracy, intercultural
understanding and tolerance, and in the fight against radicalisation,
discrimination and extremist violence based on ideological, religious
and racist pretexts. The Ministers of Education also endorsed a
new Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (see
paragraph 2 above). This document will serve as a reference instrument
for member States to ensure common and coherent quality teaching
for citizenship and democracy in and through school education.