The additional protocol to the Council of Europe Convention for the prevention of terrorism, intended to address the problem of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ will be opened for signature at an international conference to be held in Riga (Latvia) on 22 October.
The protocol will make a number of acts, including taking part in an association or group for the purpose of terrorism, receiving terrorist training, travelling abroad for the purposes of terrorism and financing or organising travel for this purpose, a criminal offence.
In the face of the growth in the numbers of individuals travelling to conflict zones, particularly in Syria and Iraq, to fight in the armed jihadist organisation known as “Islamic State” and subsequently returning to their countries of origin, some of them with the intention of committing terrorist attacks there, the aim of this Protocol is to harmonise legislation in Europe so as to facilitate co-operation between states. The protocol also provides for a network of 24-hour-a-day national contact points facilitating the rapid exchange of information.
The Council of Europe adopted a Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1977 (updated in 2003) and a Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism and a Convention on the Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism in 2005. Combatting terrorism has therefore long been one of its priorities. (more...)