Dmitriy Kobitskiy: IPA CIS Legislation on Countering Terrorism Can be Useful to Other Countries

Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy spoke at the session “Priorities and Future Efforts” of the Third Counter-Terrorism Coordination Meeting of Parliamentary Assemblies in Doha (State of Qatar). He spoke about the anti-terrorist documents drafted by the Assembly and stressed that this work is public – model laws and recommendations can be used by the parliaments of all countries.

According to Dmitriy Kobitskiy, the pandemic that broke out three years ago and the current global geopolitical crisis have become new factors that have significantly complicated countering terrorism. They led to the emergence of additional challenges for international security – economic slowdown, stressful lifestyle changes, sharp increase in refugee flows and the intensification of migration processes The development of information technology has led to the fact that terrorist groups have shifted the focus of their activities to an online format. There is a sharp increase in cross-border weapons trafficking, which becomes a new source of income for terrorist groups and provides access to a significant amount of both small arms and light weapons and high-tech military equipment. In addition, terrorists are increasingly trying to obtain new technologies, chemical and biological weapons, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles for use in terrorist attacks.

“All these challenges make it even more urgent to comprehensively strengthen international cooperation mechanisms, increasing their efficiency, responsiveness and improving legal framework of global security,” said the IPA CIS Council Secretary General.

Dmitriy Kobitskiy informed the participants about the work of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and plans for the near future to counter terrorism. For 30 years of its work, the IPA CIS has adopted more than 120 model documents in the field of combating crime, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, combating drug addiction, corruption, money laundering, human trafficking and terrorism.

At present, the IPA CIS finalizes the draft Model Law on Public Security, the Recommendations on the Implementation of the Principles of International Humanitarian Law on Countering Terrorism and Extremism and the Recommendations on the Prevention and Suppression of Violations in the Field of Information and Communication Technologies. The CIS parliamentarians start developing the Model Law on Countering the Use of Autonomous and Robotic Systems for Terrorist Purposes, amendments to the Model Law on Countering Terrorism, the CIS Recommendations on the Implementation of Administrative and Legal Measures of Authorities in the Field of Anti-Terrorist Security and a number of other documents.

“The model law-making of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, including in the field of counter-terrorism, is a unique example of the public activity of a regional parliamentary organization. We invite to actively use our model laws and recommendations in your activities and the national legislation of your countries,” Dmitriy Kobitskiy emphasized.

The Secretary General noted that relevant congress events remained the most important form of promoting parliamentary cooperation on countering terrorism and extremism. Every two years the IPA CIS organizes a conference dedicated to various aspects of combating international terrorism. Traditionally, it is co-organized by the IPA CIS partner parliamentary assemblies and relevant international structures. Dmitriy Kobitskiy invited the participants of the meeting to participate in the next counter-terrorism conference to be held at the IPA CIS headquarters on 13-14 April 2023.

The meeting also featured a discussion of regional trends and counter-terrorism efforts and was attended by member of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Political Issues and International Cooperation Vladimir Dzhabarov via videoconferencing.

In addition, the parliamentarians considered gender issues in the context of the fight against terrorism. Member of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Political Issues and International Cooperation Grigoriy Karasin spoke at the thematic session.

The Third Counter-Terrorism Coordination Meeting of Parliamentary Assemblies takes place in the capital of the State of Qatar on 30-31 January. The representatives of parliamentary organizations discuss regional current trends and efforts to counter terrorism and prevent extremism, as well as outline the priorities and geography of potential joint initiatives in these areas for the coming year.