Secretariat - Action against Terrorism Unit

The fight against incitement to commit terrorist offences, recruitment for terrorism and other related terrorist activities has gained momentum with the adoption of several measures at various levels to criminalize these behaviours.

UN Security Council resolution 1624 calls upon all states to prohibit by law incitement to commit terrorist acts. The Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism criminalizes public provocation (incitement) to commit a terrorist offence, recruitment and training for terrorism, and several OSCE commitments mention the necessity to eliminate conditions in which terrorists may recruit and gain support.

The OSCE and the Council of Europe decided to develop a joint initiative in this field and jointly held the "Expert Workshop on Preventing Terrorism: Fighting Incitement and Related Terrorist Activities" in Vienna on 19-20 October 2006. This was the first major joint event of the two organizations in the field of counter-terrorism. Some 180 participants representing judicial, law enforcement, security and counter-terrorism authorities from 47 OSCE and Council of Europe States and OSCE Partner for Co-operation States attended, as well as representatives from 14 international organizations.

The workshop allowed policy makers and other stakeholders as well as relevant experts to better understand the international legal framework designed to counter incitement to commit terrorist acts and recruitment for terrorism. The workshop also offered participants the opportunity to review and discuss good practices, and problems in implementing these international tools and measures at the national level. Experts and participants explored ways to criminalize incitement to commit terrorist acts while refraining from infringing upon freedom of expression.

In addition, several key issues related to incitement and recruitment were discussed, highlighting best practices in the field of co-operation between law enforcement bodies in countering incitement and related terrorist activities.

To enhance he participants' ability to adequately face the challenge of countering the recruitment of terrorist operatives and sympathizers, the workshop also reviewed the most common avenues for recruitment, along with existing best practice on the matter. In this regard, focus was placed on prisons and educational institutions.

Finally, as the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes remains a matter of serious concern, a session was devoted to this problem, as a follow-up to the OSCE Expert Workshop on Combating the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes held in October 2005 by the ATU.