A/HRC/30/64
amputations, lashes, displays of mutilated corpses as a purported deterrent, systematic
gender-based violence, rape, sexual slavery and the targeting of sexual minorities. Children
had been subjected to summary executions, arbitrary detention and torture. The Special
Rapporteur underlined that those were all crimes and violations of international
humanitarian law which amounted to grave human rights violations.
14.
The Deputy Director of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office
and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre noted the continuing need to address the
ever-changing phenomenon of terrorism in the lead-up to the tenth anniversary of the
United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2016. He reaffirmed the importance
of ensuring that responses and effective solutions to terrorism remained grounded within
the four pillars of the Strategy, and highlighted that the Strategy considered security and
human rights as complementary and mutually reinforcing.
15.
The Deputy Director stated that the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force
comprised 36 United Nations and affiliated entities. The main functions of the CounterTerrorism Implementation Task Force Office was to coordinate and facilitate United
Nations counter-terrorism initiatives and activities and provide support to Member States in
preventing and combating terrorism. He noted the key role played by OHCHR within the
Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office to ensure that its programmatic work
was based on the international human rights legal framework. The establishment of the
United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre within the Counter-Terrorism Implementation
Task Force Office in 2011, with the support of the Government of Saudi Arabia and other
donors, has allowed it to better support capacity-building efforts for Member States under
the rubric of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Both the CounterTerrorism Implementation Task Force Office and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism
Centre give high priority to the protection of human rights while combating terrorism and
to supporting victims of terrorism, in addition to other strategic priorities.
16.
Terrorist groups are tearing apart the social fabric of countries and the four pillars of
the United Nations. Human rights abuses and violations are carried out on an
unprecedented scale, creating flows of refugees and internally displaced persons not seen
since the end of the Second World War. ISIL in particular has committed egregious human
rights violations and must be held to account.
17.
National, regional and international efforts to respond to terrorism through military
or other means had sometimes been disproportionate, resulting in violations of human
rights and a lack of protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, which had effectively
provided terrorist groups with fuel for more hatred. Respect for human rights must remain
the foundation of counter-terrorism efforts. In that context, the entities of the CounterTerrorism Implementation Task Force would continue to support efforts to strengthen the
responses of Member States to terrorist acts to ensure that they are grounded in respect for
international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international refugee
law, including through capacity-building and training.
18.
The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office coordinates 11 Working
Groups that deal with various issues, including border security, countering the financing of
terrorism, security for critical infrastructure, support for human rights while countering
terrorism and victims of terrorism. Those Working Groups have increased the capacity of
Member States to counter terrorism through a number of important initiatives. For example,
the Working Group on promoting and protecting human rights and the rule of law seeks to
build the capacity of law enforcement institutions in Member States through a training
curriculum based on human rights-compliant approaches within a counter-terrorism context
on issues such as detention, special investigative techniques, use of force and investigative
interviewing. The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office has already piloted
training in Nigeria, and will soon roll out training sessions in other interested Member
5
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents