	BRICS Information Centre

BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy

November 2020
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I. Preamble.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have elaborated this Counter-Terrorism Strategy with the aim of strengthening the security of the BRICS countries. The objective of BRICS counter-terrorism cooperation is to complement and strengthen the existing bilateral and multilateral ties among the BRICS countries, and to make a meaningful contribution to the global efforts of preventing and combating the threat of terrorism.

The BRICS countries reaffirm that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any act of terrorism, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever motives and purposes, is a crime and has no justification. The BRICS countries also recognize that acts, methods and practices of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations are activities aimed at the destruction of human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy, threatening territorial integrity, security of States, and that the international community should take the necessary steps to enhance cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism, including cross-border movement of terrorists. They are also convinced that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.

II. Principles.

The BRICS countries' counter-terrorism cooperation is based on the following principles:

full respect for the sovereignty of the participating countries and noninterference in their internal affairs;
commitment to the principles of international law and recognition of the central and coordinating role of the United Nations on the issues of peace and security;
recognition of the role of regional organizations in countering the threat of terrorism;
need for all States to refrain from organizing, instigating, facilitating, participating in, financing, encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities and to take appropriate practical measures to ensure that their territories are not used for terrorist bases or preparation or organization of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other States or their citizens;
due consideration of national interests and priorities;
openness, information sharing, and consensus-based decision-making;
recognition of the decisive role of States and their competent authorities in combating terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism with due account for national experience and countries' specificities;
inadmissibility of using terrorist groups, or issues pertaining to countering international terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism, for political ends;
adoption of a comprehensive approach to combating terrorism;
ejection of double standards on countering terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism;
addressing of the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and attach full importance to countering the extremism conducive to terrorism.

III. Goals.

The BRICS countries will:

strengthen their unity in countering international terrorism and its financing;
consider undertaking concerted measures against those involved in organizing, instigating, facilitating, participating in, financing, encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities;
call upon all nations to take appropriate measures to prevent the use of their territories for terrorist bases or the perpetration or organization of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other States or their citizens;
deepen their cooperation to reaffirm the support for the central and coordinating role of the UN in combating international terrorism, the need for strict and full implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions related to counter terrorism, comprehensive implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in a balanced way, and implementation of the provisions of the relevant international counter-terrorism conventions and protocols;
counter the global threat of terrorism on the basis of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and international counter-terrorism conventions and protocols, where applicable;
improve the practical cooperation among security and law-enforcement authorities to prevent and combat terrorism, including by sharing timely and accurate information, and consider, if necessary, creating legal framework for such sharing;
suppress the facilitation of terrorist groups, entities and associated persons by not making available to them any resources, such as human, financial, or material, including weaponry;
undertake steps to improve relevant necessary measures to strengthen border and customs controls in order to prevent and detect the cross-border movement of terrorists, including by comprehensively using, whenever appropriate, international databases on terrorism and the consolidated list of sanctioned individuals and groups by the UN Security Council;
utilize BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group to strengthen intelligence and information sharing and cooperation on terrorist organizations listed by the UN Security Council;
pursue collectively the adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism;
prevent further geographical expansion of terrorism and address the threats posed by terrorists returning from conflict zones to countries of departure or traveling to third countries;
facilitate research and development on measures to counter terrorism;
ounteract to the growing links, where applicable, between forms of transnational organized crime and terrorism;
undertake all necessary measures to ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in support of terrorist acts is brought to justice, with due respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and that such terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offence in their domestic laws;
enhance cooperation in the sphere of mutual legal assistance and extradition, in conformity with their domestic laws and regulations, to afford the widest measure of assistance in connection with investigation or criminal proceedings against terrorists;
counter extremist narratives conducive to terrorism and the misuse of the Internet and social media for the purposes of terrorist recruitment, radicalization and incitement and providing financial and material support for terrorists;
counter public calls for and incitement of terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism;
strengthen cooperation against the misuse of information and telecommunication technology for terrorist and other criminal purposes; create counter-narratives disrupting the propaganda of terrorist and extremist ideas conducive to terrorism;
broaden their counter-terrorism cooperation with the United Nations, as well as the G-20 and the FATF;
strengthen de-radicalization cooperation to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism by education, skills development and employment facilitation while recognizing that none of the conditions can excuse or justify acts of terrorism.
cooperate to address the threat of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations;
promote capacity building, including training, experience sharing, and technical cooperation in counter-terrorism efforts;
promote public awareness and participation in counter-terrorism efforts, as well as enhancement of inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue.

IV. Conclusion.

The BRICS High Representatives for Security shall be entrusted with leading the review of the implementation of this Strategy, and the BRICS Counter- Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) shall be entrusted with its implementation.

The CTWG may discuss to consider elaborating a Plan of Action containing specific measures to implement this Strategy fully and effectively in due course.

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Source: Official website of Russia's 2020 BRICS Presidency