The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean actively contributed to the United Nations Virtual Counterterrorism Week, held on 6-10 July 2020. The high-level event, which usually takes place annually at the UN Headquarters in New York, brought together UN Member States and agencies together with the key stakeholders in the global fight against terrorism, including international organisations, national agencies, civil society, private sector, and top experts.
Participants debated priority issues such as bio and cyber terrorism, high-risk threats and trends, foreign terrorist fighters, the plight of victims of terrorism, flagship UN counter-terrorism programmes, human rights and counter-terrorism, financing of terrorism, youth-led initiatives for resilient societies, and civil society and media perspectives to prevent violent extremism, among others.
PAM, due to the specific expertise acquired in the topic, addressed the session dedicated to “Global programmes on Countering Terrorist Travel, Returning Foreign Terrorists Fighters (FTFs), including their Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration”. In his address, Hon. Gennaro Migliore, Chair of the PAM Special Parliamentary Committee on Counter Terrorism, pointed at the question of ISIL terrorists detained in Syria and Iraq, including foreign fighters and their families, remains a serious concern and represents a threat to all member states in the absence of a comprehensive solution.
He further informed the high-level audience that PAM delegates had achieved a political consensus among its 34 member parliaments. Furthermore, PAM had adopted a resolution recommending that a international UN-led Mission of Inquiry should be established to assess, on a case by case basis, which country is responsible to repatriate, prosecute and rehabilitate the concerned individuals, as well as to identify and repatriate families and children, who still remain in those areas and camps. He also informed that PAM has presented this proposal at a meeting of the UN Security Council last year, where it was received with great interest.
PAM participation in the UN Virtual Counterterrorism week comes in the context of the excellent cooperation between PAM and the UN Office for Counterterrorism, as PAM continues to serve as the key platform for parliamentary engagement on counterterrorism in the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions. A few days ago and on the same topics, PAM, UNOCT and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held a joint Parliamentary Web-talk on Counterterrorism amidst the COVID 19 Pandemic. The event allowed representatives from over 65 parliaments to take stock of the most current terrorism trends and strengthen parliamentary cooperation on this issue at this critical juncture.