G-20 Leaders' reiterate commitment to fight terrorism, its funding

The G-20 leaders on Friday condemned all terrorist attacks worldwide and reiterated their commitment to the fight against terrorism and its financing.

The leaders said in a joint statement that terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought and terrorist safe havens eliminated in every part of the world.

They reaffirmed that all measures on countering terrorism need to be implemented in accordance with the United Nations Charter and all obligations under international law, including international human rights law.

The leaders called for the implementation of existing international commitments on countering terrorism, including the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, and compliance with relevant resolutions and targetted sanctions by the UN Security Council relating to terrorism.

"We will address the evolving threat of returning foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) from conflict zones such as Iraq and Syria and remain committed to preventing FTFs from establishing a foothold in other countries and regions around the world. We recall UN Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014), which requires a range of actions to better tackle the foreign terrorist fighter threat," said the joint statement.

They also agreed to facilitate swift and targetted exchanges of information between intelligence and law enforcement and judicial authorities on operational information-sharing, preventive measures and criminal justice response, while ensuring the necessary balance between security and data protection aspects, in accordance with national laws.

They said that they would work to improve the existing international information architecture in the areas of security, travel and migration, including INTERPOL, ensuring the necessary balance between security and data protection aspects.

The G-20 leader called upon the border agencies to strengthen cooperation to detect travel for terrorist purposes, including by identifying priority transit and destination countries of terrorists.

We will promote greater use of customs security programs, including where appropriate, the World Customs Organisation's (WCO) Security Programme and Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which focus on strengthening Customs administrations' capacity to deal with security related issues and managing the cross-border flows of goods, people and means of transport to ensure they comply with the law.

They also agreed to address in close coordination the evolving threats and potential vulnerabilities in aviation security systems and exchange information on risk assessments and called to urgently address vulnerabilities in airport security related measures, such as access control and screening, covered by the Chicago Convention.

On fighting terrorism finance the leaders said:

-We reaffirm our commitment to tackle all sources, techniques and channels of terrorist financing and our call for swift and effective implementation of UNSCR and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards worldwide. We call for strengthening measures against the financing of international terrorist organisations in particular ISIL/ISIS/Daesh, Al Qaida and their affiliates.

-In order to eliminate all such "safe spaces" for terrorists, we commit to intensify capacity building and technical assistance, especially in relation to terrorist financing hot-spots, and we support the FATF in its efforts to strengthen its traction capacity and the effectiveness of FATF and FATF-style regional bodies.

-We welcome the reforms agreed by the FATF Plenary in June and support the ongoing work to strengthen the governance of the FATF. We call on all member states to ensure that the FATF has the necessary resources and support to effectively fulfil its mandate.

-We will advance the effective implementation of the international standards on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements for the purposes of countering financing terrorism.

-Low cost attacks by small cells and individuals funded by small amounts of money transferred through a wide range of payment means are an increasing challenge. We call on the private sector to continue to strengthen their efforts to identify and tackle terrorism financing. We ask our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to work with FATF, FSB, the financial sector, Financial Intelligence Units, law enforcement and FinTech firms to develop new tools such as guidance and indicators, to harness new technologies to better track terrorist finance transactions, and to work together with law enforcement authorities to bridge the intelligence gap and improve the use of financial information in counter-terrorism investigations.

-We call upon countries to address all alternative sources of financing of terrorism, including dismantling connections, where they exist, between terrorism and transnational organized crime, such as the diversion of weapons including weapons of mass destruction, looting and smuggling of antiquities, kidnapping for ransom, drugs and human trafficking.

-Countering radicalisation conducive to terrorism and the use of internet for terrorist purposes

-Our counterterrorism actions must continue to be part of a comprehensive approach, including combatting radicalization and recruitment, hampering terrorist movements and countering terrorist propaganda.

-It is crucial to promote political and religious tolerance, economic development and social cohesion and inclusiveness, to resolve armed conflicts, and to facilitate reintegration.

-We will share knowledge on concrete measures to address threats from returning foreign terrorist fighters and home-grown radicalised individuals. We will also share best practices on deradicalisation and reintegration programmes including with respect to prisoners.

-We will work with the private sector, in particular communication service providers and administrators of relevant applications, to fight exploitation of the internet and social media for terrorist purposes such as propaganda, funding and planning of terrorist acts, inciting terrorism, radicalizing and recruiting to commit acts of terrorism, while fully respecting human rights. We affirm that the rule of law applies online as well as it does offline.

-We also stress the important role of the media, civil society, religious groups, the business community and educational institutions in fostering an environment which is conducive to the prevention of radicalisation and terrorism.

-ANI