Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the debate of the UN General Assembly on the Fifth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the debate of the UN General Assembly on the Fifth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

(New York, 1 July 2016)

Mr. President,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to convey our deepest condolences to the Government of Turkey and families of the victims of the terrible terrorist attack in Istanbul.

Mr. President,
Ukraine would like to align itself with the statement delivered by the European Union.
The Fifth Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) is an important step forward in highlighting the emerging threats and evolving trends in international terrorism.
It offers ways for an enhanced implementation of our common obligations under all 4 pillars of the Strategy to ensure more substantive and effective process in the field of countering terrorism, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms while fighting this threat, and to address underlying conditions, conducive to its spread.
We would like to extend our appreciation for the dedicated efforts of the co-facilitators of the Review, Ambassadors of Argentina and Iceland, and their teams to secure the best deal possible for the balanced resolution to cap the 10-year anniversary review of the GCTS.
Yet, we regret that the document, which we are going to adopt later today, could hardly be called an ambitious one, as it does not properly reflect major tendencies and advancements in countering terrorism and violent extremism
Among them is the Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, to which we rendered our support both during the debates in the UN General Assembly meeting in February and at the Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism held in April in Geneva, Switzerland. In our view, the findings and recommendations of the Plan of Action were not fully taken on board when preparing the resolution.
Timely addressing of underlying factors that provide opportunities for violent extremism and subsequently terrorism to flourish may become, in combination with military means, a viable solution for removing continuous outbreaks of these threats all over the world.

Mr. President,
We deem a military invasion and prolonged unresolved international conflicts to be among major drivers of violent extremist and terrorist activities.
Ukraine, like no other country, being a target of the aggression of the Russian Federation that started in February 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and continued with the military aggression in Ukraine’s Donbas, hardly concealed by local puppet terrorist formations of the so-called «Donetsk an Luhansk People’s Republics», takes seriously the threat, posed by violent extremism and terrorism. It is undeniable that the terrorist component in the Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine is clearly visible and emerged as an important phenomenon in the everyday life of the occupied areas in the East of Ukraine.
The international community has witnessed the numerous terrorist acts in the occupied parts of Ukraine, in particular, massive murdering and keeping hostages, the downing of the civilian airplane of the Malaysian airlines MH-17, and shelling of civilians in Ukrainian cities notwithstanding the Minsk-1 and Minsk-2 agreements on peaceful settlement of the conflict.
It was also evident that Russia has discredited itself as a predictable and reliable international player because of its efforts to export terrorism to Ukraine. Among the facts brought to the attention of the international community, both in the framework of the UN as well as other international and regional organizations, are the continued supply of weapons to terrorists, organizing their recruitment and training in the Russian territory, their transfer to the East of Ukraine to strengthen combat capabilities of local terrorists etc.
Ukraine also submitted this information in its national input to the Secretary-General’s report on the GCTS implementation. To our deepest regret, this year’s report does not contain an integral part — annex on Member States efforts to advance this Strategy.
We expect that the Russian Federation will follow the Resolution’s call to refrain from organizing, instigating, facilitating, participating in, financing, encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities and to stop using its own territory for training terrorist and the preparation or organization of terrorist acts in Ukraine.
By doing so as well as de-occupying Crimea, the Russian Federation will return to a normal and peaceful activity not as a rogue state but as valuable partner of the international community.
This will significantly contribute to implementing the Strategy.

Mr. President,
We fully recognize the key role of the United Nations in preventing and countering terrorist activities.
Ensuring the effective implementation of the Strategy requires a closer cooperation among Member States and all UN family counter-terrorism agencies and bodies.
Yet, present-day terrorist organizations like ISIL and Al Qaeda have overgrown a regional menace and now posing a global threat that challenges international peace and security. This requires further enhancement of coordination and coherence of UN counter-terrorism activities across the four pillars of the Strategy, both at UN headquarters and in the field.

Mr. President,
We were disappointed that no feasible proposal was given by the Secretariat. This sent a dissuading signal to the UN membership. Besides, due to the flat position of several delegations, an immediate tuning-up of the UN CT architecture with the decision of the current Review was procrastinated.
As the majority of delegations suggested during the negotiations on the draft final document of the Review and in these debates, we would prefer to appoint a high-ranking Coordinator for the implementation of our Global Strategy.
This will fully correspond to a proposed «All of UN» approach where as such a functionary with «One ring to rule them all» (in its better sense) will make sure that the Organization is capable in providing strategic planning and wide-ranging management of its programs on countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism, conducting robust analysis of terrorism threats and assessment of Member State’s vulnerabilities, as well as in oversighting the delivery of international technical assistance in this field.
Thus, the UN CT architecture would be able to withstand current challenges posed by terrorism and provide Member States with the international assistance needed, including by mobilizing necessary resources for such projects.

Mr. President,
We expect that comprehensive options of respective institutional arrangements will be submitted until May 2017 for a prompt consideration by the 71 st session of the General Assembly.
Concluding my statement, Mr. President, I would like once again assure you of Ukraine’s determination to support the global efforts in fight against international terrorism and in increasing the effectiveness of the UN system to this course.

I thank you for your attention.