MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. The Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) will have its first meeting on October 2 during the assembly’s autumn meeting in Andorra, PA’s envoy on countering terrorism, a Russian legislator Nikolai Kovalev told TASS on Friday.
"The committee’s agenda is quite vast, the committee is to offer a common notion of terrorism, and we also need practically a common arrest warrant for terrorists," he said. "Those are only two items on the long list of issues the international community has to face if it really to fight this global evil in both word and action."
"This agenda has been formed not within recent weeks or months, it has been formed by the life, by the necessity to unite the countries given the common threat, coming from the international terrorism," he added.
The Russian legislator, who is also deputy head of the ad hoc committee, said organization of the committee resulted from the years-long discussion at OSCE, which Russia had initiated.
"For a few years, the Russian delegation was drawing attention of its European counterparts to the growing terrorist threat, including in countries on the European continent," he continued.
"The recent events have proven the forecast regarding escalation of the terrorist threat, which thus became another argument for those who called for uniting efforts of the OSCE PA countries in fighting against this phenomenon," he said. Since the assembly’s summer session in Minsk, the issue of organizing an ad hoc committee "developed to the stage of organizational decisions and the committee begins its work at the 2017 autumn session in Andorra."
According to the information obtained by TASS, the OSCE PA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Counterina Terrorism is led by Makis Voridis (Greece), and his deputies along with the Russian legislator are Stephane Crusniere (Belgium), Richard Hudson (United States), and Sofio Katsarava (Georgia).
The committee lists its objectives as " to advance OSCE PA’s efforts in the field of countering terrorism with a special emphasis on cross-dimensional issues, explore innovative approaches in the OSCE region and report back to the President and the Standing Committee; consider terrorism trends in the OSCE region and develop forward-looking policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the role of the OSCE and supporting participating States efforts to develop effective and human rights-compliant counter-terrorism responses; promote inter-parliamentary dialogue and the exchange of best practices and lessons learned on issues related to countering terrorism; work closely with the OSCE executive structures and with relevant external partners on issues related to countering terrorism to improve the visibility and impact of the OSCE action; promote the follow-up to OSCE PA recommendations in the field of countering terrorism.".