MEDIA ADVISORY

Addressing current challenges posed by foreign terrorist fighters to be discussed at regional conference organized by OSCE, UN, Switzerland in Vienna

VIENNA, 7 February 2020 – The quest for responses to the complex and evolving challenges posed by the foreign terrorist fighters phenomenon, will be the focus of a regional conference jointly organized on 11 and 12 February in Vienna by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and Switzerland, in co-operation with Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship. The event will bring together high-level officials and senior experts from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, the United Nations, international and regional organizations, academia and civil society.  

Given recent developments in the Middle East as well as in conflict areas, OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation are becoming increasingly concerned with the expected return of foreign terrorist fighters. Some of these returnees may move to commit violent acts, incite others to engage in terrorist activities, or take part in recruitment and fundraising efforts for terrorist organizations.

In addressing these issues, governments need to be equipped with the appropriate tools to monitor and control the travel of foreign terrorist fighters and to respond in a human rights compliant way. The conference will cover the following topics:

•    Responses to incitement, recruitment for and facilitation of foreign terrorist fighter activities;
•    Preventing the travel of foreign terrorist fighters;
•    Gathering and sharing of evidence;
•    Prosecution of foreign terrorist fighters;
•    Repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration.

Representatives of the media are invited to cover the conference’s opening and closing sessions on 11 and 12 February at the Hofburg Conference Centre, Heldenplatz 1, in Vienna.

The opening session, from 9:30-10:15 on 11 February in the Neuer Saal, will feature addresses by:
Johannes Matyassy, State Secretary, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; 
Vladimir Voronkov, UN Under-Secretary-General, UNOCT;
Thomas Greminger, OSCE Secretary General; 
Igli Hasani, Permanent Representative of Albania and Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council;
Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

The closing session, from 17:00-17:30 on 12 February in the Ratsaal, will feature concluding remarks by:
Vladimir Voronkov, UN Under-Secretary-General and Head of the UNOCT;   
Thomas Greminger, OSCE Secretary General;
Wolfgang Amadeus Brühlart, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, the UN and other International Organizations in Vienna.

Media representatives wishing to attend should send an e-mail to [email protected], by no later than 17:00, 10 February 2020.

Background

This conference is one in a series of regional conferences, which were announced by the UN Secretary-General at the UN’s 2018 High-level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies in New York. It is also part of a broader initiative to give new impetus to multilateral cooperation to address the evolving threat of terrorism and violent extremism within a framework of international law and human rights. The outcomes of these regional conferences will feed into the Second UN High-level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of Member States, to be held in New York in July 2020. 

Contacts: