International Parliamentary Conference “Global Threats and Challenges in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Terrorism and Violent Extremism” Took Place

The Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism co-organized the online international parliamentary conference “Global Threats and Challenges in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Terrorism and Violent Extremism”. The conference brought together the MPs from the CIS countries, members of international institutions, representatives of civil society and relevant organizations.

The work of the conference started with the plenary session in the Reading Hall of the Tavricheskiy Palace.  Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council Valentina Matvienko opened the event and noted that the current conference continued the similar discussions held in 2017 and 2019.

According to Valentina Matvienko, international terrorism remained one of the main security challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the task of countering terrorism threat. The Speaker noted that these challenging times demanded comprehensive strengthening of international cooperation mechanisms, enhancing its responsiveness and effectiveness, improving the legal framework of ensuring security on a global scale.

A keynote speech was delivered by Head of the Joint Chiefs of Security and Special Services, Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Alexander Bortnikov. He told the meeting participants that despite the difficult conditions resulted from the pandemic, the international community had managed to maintain the positive momentum of engagement and continue working together to address the relevant issues of countering terrorism and extremism.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rik Daems noted that international terrorism and extremism represented global threats and declared the need to jointly fight them.  

Speaker of the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic Sahiba Gafarova believes that in order to address the vulnerabilities of international stability and prevent terrorism and extremism, the international community has to develop a new strategic approach that would exclude double standards.

Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan stressed that terrorism and extremism had become one of the most dangerous problems of the 21^st century and noted that the spread of the new coronavirus infection and related restrictions caused serious problems in all countries testing their political, social and economic systems.

According to Speaker of the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Natalya Kochanova, only equitable dialogue and mutual respect would contribute to the better understanding and confidence-building.

Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic Talant Mamytov highlighted that the improved international cooperation, adaptation and better international legislation remain high on the global agenda and noted the leading role of the Russian Federation in fighting the new coronavirus infection.

Speaker of Parliament of Republic of Moldova Zinaida Greceanîi believes that it is important that the countries adopt a comprehensive, balanced approach to fight terrorism that would be consistent with human rights.

Speaker of Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Republic of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva reminded that the social upheavals were breeding grounds for radicalization being used by terrorists.

Deputy Speaker of Senate of Parliament of Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Abdirov commends the active participation of the parliamentary community in countering terrorism and extremism as Kazakhstan strongly condemns any of its manifestations and commits to use all means to fight them.

President Emeritus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Alia Hatoug-Bouran expressed gratitude for maintaining parliamentary dialogue on counter-terrorism and stressed the need to encourage representatives of international organizations to participate in similar events.

Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism Reinhold Lopatka noted that the international cohesion weakened the terrorists and stressed the need that every country should contribute to the common security goal.

In his video message, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov called all parliamentarians to cooperate more closely and develop national comprehensive plans to help victims of terrorism.

Chairperson of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev said that the Commonwealth remained a credible and active actor on the international arena and an important link in the security management system in the European region.

Head of the Commonwealth of Independent States Anti Terrorism Center Andrey Novikov told about mechanisms of propaganda and recruitment activities of international terrorist organizations.

Regional Director for Europe of the World Health Organization Hans Kluge, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization  Vladimir Norov,  United Nations Assistant Secretary-General,

Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate Michèle Coninsx and ICRC Director of International Law and Policy Helen Durham addressed the participants with video messages.

The conference was also attended by Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Foreign Affairs Grigoriy Karasin, Special Representative of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on interaction with international organizations on the issues of preparation and holding of the International Conference on Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Religious Dialogue Ilyas Umakhanov, Secretary General – Head of the Secretariat of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly Dmitriy Kobitskiy, PA CSTO Executive Secretary Sergey Pospelov, President of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Pyry Niemi, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Ghada Fathy Waly, Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) Jürgen Stock, the representatives of other international organizations, the academia and experts.

The work of the conference was continued within the thematic sessions: “Legal Mechanisms of International Co-operation in Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism”, “Assessing the Terrorist Threat and Efforts to Prevent Violent Extremism”, “Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Victims of Terrorism and Addressing Their Needs”, “Democracies Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic”.