28 February 2024, New York, United States – Hon. Rita Theodorou Superman (Cyprus), PAM Rapporteur on Counter-terrorism, contributed to the discussions of the first-ever regional open briefing on counter-terrorism efforts in South-East Europe, organized by the UN Security Council (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), at the UNHQ in New York, with the participation of government representatives, regional organizations, academic experts, and civil society actors.
The event provided an opportunity to review the multifaceted character of terrorism and terrorist groups activities, which continue to evolve, also taking advantage of new technologies and tactics, as well as to learn from UN Member States on how their counterterrorism approaches are adapting to face these challenges.
During the Opening Remarks, Ms. Natalia Gherman, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of CTED, stressed the importance for countries to continue enhancing regional cooperation and exchange of information to mitigate the terrorist threat.
In her speech, Hon. Superman recalled the long-standing and extremely effective cooperation between PAM and CTED, and that more projects are being implemented. She highlighted that South-East Europe constitutes a main crossing point for members of terrorist groups, who are able to infiltrate undetected irregular migrant routes, especially from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as for illicit trafficking in persons, drugs and weapons towards Western European countries.
In this regard, uncontrolled proliferation of weapons and drug trafficking are boosted by the protracted illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the benefit of transnational criminal networks in the region.
PAM will continue to provide its Members with state-of-art reports on these issues, fully supporting the efforts of CTED to ensure that countries have at their disposal all necessary instruments to prevent and address the most pressing terrorist and criminal threats. The video-message of Hon. Superman is available at the dedicated PAM webpage of the event: