Conference on “Combating terrorism and extreme violence”
Sochi, 10-11 November 2015

Dear Prosecutor General,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to attend this important Conference on “Combatting terrorism and extreme violence” and a real privilege to be invited to take the floor.

I would like to thank the organisers of this Conference, the office of the Principal State Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, and in particular the Principal State Prosecutor himself, Mr Yury Chaika, as well as the International Association of Prosecutors for their invitation.

2015 already bears the hallmark of barbarity and the horror of terrorism.  The attacks in several of our capitals and the atrocities committed by Daech in the Middle East are evidence that terrorists are more determined than ever to bring down societies based on democratic values. I join all previous speakers in presenting my sincere condolences to all Russian families affected by the tragedy of last week.

Terrorism calls for rapid, practical and multifaceted responses.  If we are to face up effectively to the new challenges posed by today’s terrorism networks, we must be united and strong.  

On the 19th May of this year, the Committee of Ministers of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe adopted an Action Plan to combat violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism, the very issue of the present Conference.

This Action Plan first of all sets out the fundamental principles which form the very foundation of all our action to counter terrorism. Our action will be based on respect for human rights, the rule of law and democracy, which constitute the three areas of activity and the three pillars of the Council of Europe. Any successful action against terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation must closely build upon these values.”

The Action Plan pursues two objectives:

First, it calls for the strengthening of the legal framework against terrorism and violent extremism. An important text was adopted on the same day as the Action Plan: the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism.

Second, it seeks to prevent and combat violent radicalisation through concrete measures in the public sector, in particular in schools, in prisons, and on the Internet. The Guidelines for the prison and probation services on radicalisation and violent extremism are currently being drafted.

Our new Additional Protocol addresses the notorious phenomenon of  “foreign terrorist fighters”, these men, women and often children, who have left their home, their families and their friends, determined to die as martyrs for a cause that condemns our principles.

Today there are more than 25,000 of these foreign terrorist fighters who have come from more than 100 countries throughout the world.  Among these 25,000 individuals, 6,000 are European. These fighters increase the intensity and the duration of conflicts; in addition, some of them may pose a serious threat to their States of origin on their return, either by carrying out terrorist attacks or radicalising other individuals.

To address this serious problem, the UN Security Council, on 24 September 2014, unanimously adopted Resolution 2178 (2014) on “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.”  The Security Council called on member States to take a whole series of measures to prevent and limit the flow of foreign terrorist fighters to conflict zones.

Acknowledging the Council of Europe’s expertise and capabilities in counter-terrorism, our colleagues and friends at the UN felt that we were the best placed to draw up a legally binding text on foreign terrorist fighters: to lay down precise legal elements to enable States to introduce into their domestic legislation concrete measures to implement the recommendations contained in the Resolution.

And we wasted no time!  We managed, in record time – seven weeks - , to negotiate and approve this Protocol.

The Committee of Ministers adopted the Protocol on 19 May 2015 and it was opened for signature in Riga on 22 October. On that occasion, it was signed by 17 States and the EU and 2 other countries signed afterwards. It is important to underline that non-member States of the Council of Europe can become Parties to the Protocol. The Protocol is now recognised universally and is already becoming a source of inspiration for both domestic legislation and other regional organisations.

I sincerely hope that ratifications and accessions will follow at the same pace so that it can enter into force (after 6 ratifications) and you, as front-line justice players, can apply it by prosecuting foreign terrorist fighters and co-operating more closely with your colleagues from other countries.

This Protocol supplements the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, by adding certain provisions on the criminalisation of acts relating to terrorist offences and a provision on information exchange.

The Council of Europe definitely opted for a strengthening of international co-operation by including in the Protocol a provision requiring States to establish a point of contact available 24 hours on 24, 7 days a week.  This will ensure rapid exchange between States of all the relevant police information on persons travelling abroad for terrorism purposes.

The designation of these contact points is one of the major added values of this Protocol. Henceforth, would-be terrorists can no longer count on crossing a border, or on purchasing a seat on a plane or any other means of transport to escape criminal liability.  

The Additional Protocol identifies five activities which must be made criminal offences in order to deal with the issue of foreign terrorist fighters:

• Participating in an association or group for the purpose of terrorism;
• Receiving training for terrorism;
• Travelling abroad for the purpose of terrorism;
• Funding travelling abroad for the purpose of terrorism; and lastly,
• Organising or otherwise facilitating travelling abroad for the purpose of terrorism.

By making these five activities criminal offences, the Protocol covers each stage in the process of radicalisation and progression to becoming a foreign terrorist fighter.  No need to wait for massacres in order to take action. Prevention of terrorism is as important as punishing it.  Prevention and punishment must be the two sides of the same coin and must complement each other. One cannot function without the other.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Apart from this Protocol, I should also mention the Guidelines for prison and probation services on radicalisation and violent extremism which we are currently drafting in Strasbourg.  We often hear that prisons are breeding grounds for radicalisation, violent extremism and, ultimately, terrorism. Having said that prisons are also a place where specific programmes and action can be implemented to help individuals refrain from embracing violent movements and ideologies.

So, dealing with radicalisation has become more and more significant as part of the global strategy of the fight against international terrorism.

The Guidelines set the legal and ethical framework within which prison and probation services should plan and carry out their actions if confronted with radicalisation and violent extremism. This includes the development of specific tools and methods for identifying radicalised prisoners, as well as the need to invest in social reintegration of offenders.

Prison and probation staff are the primary actors to implement the principles listed in the Guidelines. However, all legal professionals in our 47 member States are concerned by the fight against terrorism and radicalisation.

The Council of Europe therefore attaches tremendous importance to the training of legal professionals. Indeed, the standards we have elaborated will not be effective if they are not implemented at the day-to-day level. For that purpose the Council of Europe has developed a training programme for all 47 member States, better known as HELP Programme. Its aim is to provide high-quality and tailor-made training tools to judges, lawyers investigators, and prosecutors.

One of the courses that has just been developed by the Programme is of particular relevance to our Conference, namely the course on combatting hate speech and hate crime. I can only encourage you to take full advantage of this course for the purpose of professional training of prosecutors and investigators to ensure that they fight radicalisation effectively in practice. Furthermore, we plan to develop next year a new, more targeted training course on prevention of radicalization. No surprise that those courses are on high demand and we hope that they will be swiftly integrated in national training programmes across Europe.

As you may see, the Council of Europe has embarked upon a vast undertaking of combating terrorism and violent extremism, but criminal law is certainly not the only answer. We should not forget that radicalisation is also a problem of society.

Educational action for example could supplement this punitive approach, and may even prevent it getting to that stage. Teachers, social workers and local officials are the ones closest to the vulnerable individuals concerned.  

In the longer term, culture and education will continue to be the most effective safeguards against extremism and violence.

We also have to pay attention to the Internet and the social networks which are today amongst the preferred means of propagating ideologies of extreme violence.

All these issues are also covered by the Action Plan of the Council of Europe.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

For more than 40 years, the Council of Europe has sought to develop legal instruments to curb terrorism. Today, more than ever, we have to stand up to terrorism and speak out, in the name of justice and the law, making it clear that barbarity and terror have no place in our societies.

I can assure you that the Council of Europe will always be ready to cooperate with you to combat violent extremism, radicalisation and terrorism.

I am convinced that our Conference will also be a valuable contribution to our ongoing work in this area at both European and universal level.

Thank you for your kind attention.