on the participation of the European Union in various organisations for cooperation to prevent and counter terrorism

JOINT DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE HIGH REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNION FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY

JOINT DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE HIGH

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNION FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY

POLICY

on the participation of the European Union in various organisations for cooperation to prevent and counter terrorism

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE HIGH REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNION FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY,

Having regard to the Treaty on the European Union, and in particular Article 17(1) and Article 27(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)The Global Counterterrorism Forum serves as a multilateral forum to strengthen international cooperation on counter-terrorism where the participating members discuss the need for mobilising expertise, resources and initiatives to more effectively counter terrorism. Within this framework, members proceeded with the establishment of specialised international bodies to address issues of prevention and countering violent extremism: the Hedayah Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund.

(2)The Hedayah Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism was created in response to the need identified for the establishment of an independent, multilateral centre devoted to training, dialogue, collaboration and research to counter violent extremism in all of its forms and manifestations, one that can bring together experts, expertise, and experience from around the globe.

(3)The mission of the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law is to provide rule of law-based training to lawmakers, police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other justice sector stakeholders on how to address terrorism and related transnational criminal activities, strengthen criminal justice systems and build regional judicial, police and other criminal justice practitioner networks to promote justice, security, and human rights. It is also serving as a forum for similar activities of cooperation partners such as, inter alia, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate, the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum.

(4)The Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund was established within the framework of the Global Counterterrorism Forum to support current and future efforts of governments and community-based organisations to address violent extremism and foster resilience to violent extremist agendas in a complementary way. The Fund aims to support local, community-level initiatives on countering violent extremism.

(5)The European Union, as a founding member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum and having been involved closely in the founding of the Hedayah Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, views these bodies as central to its international cooperation efforts to counter violent extremism in general and terrorism specifically.

(6)The Commission Implementing Decision adopting the Thematic Strategy Paper 2014-2020 and accompanying Multi-annual Indicative Programme 2014-2017 of the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (C(2014) 5607) of 11 August 2014 identified provisions for long-term actions to address specific actions of cooperation between the Union and partner countries and regions in order to combat global and trans-regional and emerging threats, as provided for under Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 230/2014 establishing the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace ().

(7)The Strategy, with counter-terrorism being one of the main priorities identified, called upon the European Union to contribute to the overarching European Union objective of promoting effective multilateralism and prioritised trans-regional cooperation. Support to specific counter-terrorism cooperation programmes developed within the United Nations or other multilateral frameworks such as the Global Counterterrorism Forum is expressly mentioned as one option under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace.

(8)Building on the Strategy, the Multi-annual Indicative Programme 2014-2017 prioritised the promotion of multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation in the long-term, in particular at the United Nations and at the Global Counterterrorism Forum, as well as support for global outreach and dialogue on prevention of terrorism and countering violent extremism including with multilateral initiatives, governments, civil society organisations and local communities.

(9)The Commission is funding actions through the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law under the Commission Implementing Decision adopting the Annual Action Programme for 2013 (C(2013) 4599) on counter-terrorism aspects of the criminal justice systems in the Middle East and North Africa due to its expertise and mandate in promoting rule of law-based criminal justice reform.

(10)In the Commission Implementing Decision adopting the Annual Action Programme for 2014 (C(2014) 5647), the Commission decided that it would participate in the work of the Hedayah Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. The Commission under this Decision has provided grants to both the Hedayah Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund for the purpose of sub-granting to fund local, community-level initiatives on countering violent extremism around the world utilising the international expertise and multilateral nature of these two bodies. Moreover, the same Decision provided that the Commission would participate in the Governing Board of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund.

(11)This approach was validated and reaffirmed in the Council conclusions on counter-terrorism of 9 February 2015, where the Council welcomed, inter alia, "Supporting international initiatives on countering radicalisation and terrorism such as the first International Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism ("Hedayah") in Abu Dhabi, and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) in Geneva [...]."

(12)Furthermore, the Council stated that "[the] EU will enhance further its engagement in the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF), including by actively shaping GCTF inspired initiatives such as Hedayah in Abu Dhabi, the Global Community Engagement Resilience Fund (GCERF) and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law in Malta." This was further underlined in the statement of the Heads of State or Government of 12 February 2015 issued by the members of the European Council, which insisted on a sustained and coordinated engagement with the United Nations and the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum as well as with relevant regional initiatives.

(13)In its Guidelines on "Commission participation in private law bodies" annexed to Decision 2958 of 4 August 2004, the Commission laid down the general rule of its non-participation in private law bodies.

(14)The rule was adopted due to the serious risks involved in such participations, namely the risk to the Commission’s image, the financial risk, the possible conflict of interests for the officials concerned, the possible misuse of financial procedures, the risk of nepotism and patronage in the recruitment of staff by these bodies, the risk of captivity and inefficiency and the risk of unfair competition with other service providers.