The Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) ended the fifth regular session Thursday with a fresh commitment to combat and eliminate terrorism “in all its forms and manifestations, whatever its origin or motivation.”
In their reaffirmation that terrorism “has no justification whatsoever,” member states took a decision to work within their own countries, sub-regions as well as the hemisphere to fight this scourge.
The threat of terrorism is made even more serious by connections with money laundering, illicit trafficking in drugs and arms, and a number of other forms of transnational organized crime, as was said in the “Declaration of Port-of-Spain on Strengthening Cooperation on Strategies to Sustain and Advance the Hemispheric Fight against Terrorism,” which was adopted at the just concluded meeting.
Member states called for urgent measures to be taken to strengthen cooperation and information exchange “with the aim of locating, capturing, prosecuting, and punishing the sponsors, organizers, and perpetrators of terrorist acts, as well as of identifying and freezing assets and resources used to facilitate, promote, or commit such acts.”
In the Declaration of Port-of-Spain, CICTE members also affirmed the need to support cooperation on cross-border management, improve the security and integrity of official documents, develop ways to rapidly disseminate warnings about cybersecurity threats, and intensify efforts to disrupt the capacity of terrorist networks to threaten safe travel and recreation in the member states, among other steps.
In winding-up the three-day meeting, the Chairman of CICTE, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, accepted that implementing the anti-terrorism body’s ambitious and expanding work plan is going to require continued political, human and financial support.
Joseph thanked the United States for its additional contribution of $1.6 million to CICTE, which was announced by the head of the U.S. delegation, Homeland Security Under-Secretary Asa Hutchinson, on Thursday.
The Trinidad and Tobago Minister, who will be chairing CICTE during the coming year, called the OAS body “a unique inter-American forum which allows for dialogue, policymaking and action in countering terrorism and related matters, adding that, it's a forum which must always be a forerunner in the sustained fight against terrorism.”
The CICTE work plan adopted in Port of Spain recommends a number of measures intended to assist in coordination and information-sharing related to border and customs controls, the prevention of money laundering, the strengthening of cybersecurity as well as aviation and maritime security.
