International definition of terrorism to be negotiated in Helsinki

The Council of Europe Committee on Counter-Terrorism (CDCT) will hold its plenary meeting in Helsinki on 11–13 December under the leadership of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The members of the CDCT are from the 46 member States of the Council of Europe. In addition, the United States and several organisations, such as the EU, Europol, Eurojust, OSCE and Interpol, regularly participate in the meetings.

The Committee works closely with the UN and promotes the regional implementation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions on counter-terrorism. The Council of Europe’s counter-terrorism cooperation is based on respect for human rights and the rule of law.

“At the moment, a key task of the CDCT is the ongoing negotiations on a pan-European definition of terrorism. These negotiations will take up most of the time at the Helsinki meeting. We are talking about significant negotiations in terms of countering terrorism. The EU is the only organisation at an international level that has been able to reach agreement on one uniform definition of terrorism,” says Ambassador Päivi Kairamo.

The Council of Europe member States have adopted the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol on foreign terrorist fighters (FTF). Finland is a state party to both agreements. In addition to actions related to the agreements, the Committee implements the Council of Europe’s counter-terrorism strategy. The second of its kind, the Council of Europe Counter-Terrorism Strategy for 2023–2027 (Opens New Window) (Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)was updated and adopted last spring.