Our mandate on countering terrorism

The OSCE’s original mandate on countering terrorism goes back to the Bucharest Plan of Action of 2001. In the same year, the Organization created an anti-terrorism unit in its Secretariat.

One year later, at the 2002 Ministerial Council meeting in Porto, the States adopted a Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism.

This was followed by a Ministerial Statement in 2007, which reinforced the OSCE’s activities in this field, promoting the international legal framework against terrorism, in particular the universal anti-terrorism conventions and protocols, and encouraging participating States to become parties to them and implement their obligations under these instruments.

Another Ministerial Council decision, taken in 2008, called upon the participating States to make use of the OSCE’s offices and structures to counter violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism.

Building on the documents adopted earlier, and the work done by the OSCE so far, the Permanent Council decided in 2012 on a Consolidated Framework for the Fight against Terrorism, which highlights operational principles and identifies the strategic focus of the OSCE’s counter-terrorism role to guide future activities.