Members of parliament can promote counterterrorism efforts by adopting relevant legislation, the Senator said.
Grigory Karasin, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs and member of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Political Issues and International Cooperation, addressed the 5th Meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Coordination Mechanism of Parliamentary Assemblies, held in Istanbul, Türkiye, via videoconference.
The Senator spoke about the importance of redoubling counterterrorism efforts, which calls for rallying the international community.
“Members of parliament can help fight this evil by adopting relevant legislation, allocating additional budgetary funds for fighting terrorism and supervising the work of the agencies concerned,” he said.
Grigory Karasin focused on the need to stop politicising the terrorist threat, which some countries are using as a tool of their selfish policies.
He recalled the judgement adopted by the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 31 January 2024 in Ukraine’s suit against the Russian Federation, which was based, in part, on the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. “The ICJ refused to designate Russia as an aggressor state and the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as terrorist organisations, thereby wrecking Kiev’s allegations.”
The Senator highlighted the role of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA CIS) in supporting the decisions of the CIS councils of heads of state and government, in particular, on combatting terrorism. “In the 30 years of its work, the IPA has adopted 125 model laws on this subject and is drafting several other documents, including a Model Law on Countering the Use of Autonomous and Robotic Systems for Terrorist and Extremist Purposes, Recommendations on the Implementation of Administrative and Legal Measures of Authorities in the Field of Anti-Terrorist Security, and Recommendations on the Improvement of Legislation to Prevent Illegal Activities in Offshore Waters of CIS Member States,” the legislator pointed out.
Grigory Karasin called for joining the efforts of parliamentary assemblies and working together with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism to contribute to the fight against all and any manifestations of international terrorism.