UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE VIENNA (UNIS)

For information only - not an official document

VIENNA, 11 April (UN Information Service) - Experts from five Central Asian States - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - discussed how to develop international cooperation to prevent terrorism with their counterparts in Afghanistan, Mongolia and the Russian Federation, at a workshop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 5 to 7 April. The workshop was organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the Government of Uzbekistan, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

During the workshop, participants reviewed legislative requirements emanating from the 12 universal legal instruments against terrorism and studied the extent to which their respective domestic penal laws matched the standards set by these instruments and by the counter-terrorism resolution of the United Nations Security Council, resolution 1373 (2001). Participants agreed to expedite the drafting or amending of their respective countries' domestic legislations in view of the requirements of these standards.

The workshop also reviewed the impact of regional conventions such as those elaborated under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the SCO as well as of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime on international cooperation against terrorism. Participants were briefed on software being developed by UNODC to facilitate international legal assistance. An expert from the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs also briefed the participants on international standards adopted to reduce the financing of terrorism and on Switzerland's approach to mutual legal assistance and extraditing criminals.

The Commonwealth of Independent States was represented in this workshop and contributed to ensuring that counter-terrorism measures would be implemented at both global and regional levels. The South Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT) participated in the meeting as an observer. For participants from the Central Asian Republics, the workshop followed understandings reached in sub-regional workshops held in February 2004 in Antalya, Turkey, and in February 2003 in London, United Kingdom.

The workshop was supported by a generous contribution from the Austrian Government.