Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Alfonso Dastis, attends plenary meeting of Global Counterterrorism Forum

2017.9.20

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Alfonso Dastis mentioned the need to also prevent and counter domestic violent extremism and to draw up an effective counter-narrative, as seen by the recent attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, as well as the need to count on victims in providing a response to terrorism.

He warned of the threat of returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters and called for States to comply with Resolution 2322 of the Security Council, which Spain pushed through and which will improve international police and judicial cooperation. We must defeat terrorism by strangling it, depriving it of all support, while fully respecting human rights and the rule of law.

The forum was attended by the foreign affairs ministers of Algeria, Australia, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Turkey and the deputy minister of Colombia, the State Secretary of France and the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship. The ministers approved two documents that will contribute to adapting the fight against terrorism to new needs: 1) the Zurich-London Recommendations to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism on the Internet, and 2) the Antalya Memorandum on good practices to protect vulnerable targets from terrorism.

The main initiatives that the Global Forum announced at this meeting will address the relationship between terrorism and organised trans-national crime, the families of Foreign Terrorist Fighters and violent extremism of domestic origin. The Global Forum reformed its structure at this meeting to make it more flexible and effective.

Non official translation