Secretariat - Action against Terrorism Unit

The fight against terrorism requires the efforts and resources of both national authorities and international entities. Regional and sub-regional organizations have an important role to play in promoting co-operation among states and transmitting best practices, lessons learned and global initiatives.

To enhance this role, regional and sub-regional organizations need to further exchange their knowledge and experience. They can learn from each other, adopt successful approaches and learn to avoid or to surmount possible obstacles.

To address these issues, the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU) has organized two Roundtables of Counter-Terrorism Practitioners from Regional Organizations. Complementing various higher-level meetings of regional and international organizations, these roundtables have made a concrete contribution towards enhanced co-operation and co-ordination in combating terrorism. They have provided practitioners with an opportunity to network as well as to discuss the substance of their work, including practical matters such as project and programme implementation.

The first roundtable was organized on 27 and 28 July 2006 in Copenhagen with the support of Denmark, who, as Chair of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee at that time, generously provided financial support. Building on this success, the ATU organized on 19 and 20 June 2007 in Vilnius, with the support of Lithuania, a follow-up roundtable focusing on regional/UN co-operation in implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. 

These events brought together representatives from 14 of  the world's leading regional and sub-regional organizations, joined by representatives from eight international organizations and UN Offices.