Secretariat - Action against Terrorism Unit

Suicide terrorism is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a threat confined to far-off places outside the OSCE region. Suicide attacks are now spreading to regions where they were previously unknown, and at least ten OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation have been targets.

Since the year 2000, brutal attacks have occurred in Russia, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan, as well as in the OSCE Partners for Co-operation Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

Overall, suicide attacks have been increasingly more prominent in recent years. As part of measures to address this threat, the OSCE's Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU), in partnership with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), organized the world's first large-scale international workshop on suicide terrorism, which was held in Vienna on 20 May 2005.

The workshop, funded with the generous financial support of the United States, brought together representatives from eight international organizations, including the UN and Interpol, along with 160 representatives from 60 countries, a third of which sent experts from their capitals.

The event succeeded in helping governments to better understand the threat and learn from the hard-earned experiences of practitioners combating the threat in their countries. Suicide bombings are favoured by terrorist organizations because they are efficient, relatively cheap and easy to plan, as there is no need to arrange escape routes.

Countering suicide terrorism requires a comprehensive approach consisting of effective intelligence, operational activities, security, technical and psychological measures. High quality intelligence and surveillance as well as the constant training of relevant personnel are essential. Private sector involvement (with regard to training and technology, for example) is crucial, as is increased international co-operation. The media also needs to be taken into account when formulating relevant counter-terrorism strategies.

In spite of many attempts to satisfactorily profile "the" suicide attacker, this remains elusive as the threat evolves quickly. Security forces therefore need to stay particularly vigilant dealing with the threat. Scientific advances have also been made with regard to technologies for detecting explosives used by suicide terrorists.

Importantly, in the resolution on terrorism by suicide bombers taken at its 14th Annual Session in Washington on 5 July 2005, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly welcomed the proactive approach taken by the ATU in addressing this threat.