BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The international
community has taken a series of antiterror measures in the past five years, in
the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers commandeered four U.S.
airliners. Two crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York and
one into the Pentagon in Washington D.C., while the fourth crashed near
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving some 3,000 people dead and causing huge
economic losses.
The following are key facts about international
antiterror efforts in the past five years:
On Sept. 28, 2001, the United Nations Security
Council adopted the Resolution 1373, demanding all countries to freeze the
assets of terror suspects and cut their economic funding. The council
established an antiterror committee to supervise the implementation of the
resolution.
In October 2001, the council decided to impose
sanctions on 27 organizations and persons that were suspected of involvement in
terrorist activities.
In April 2002, the international pact passed by the
UN General Assembly, in fighting against financing terrorism took effect.
On Sept. 14, 2005, the Security Council adopted the
Resolution 1624, asking all countries to legislate against support and stirring
of terrorism.
The antiterror efforts of the Europe Union (EU) have
been characterized by cooperation. In September 2001, a special EU summit
adopted an antiterror plan.
On March 26, 2004, the EU issued a statement on
coordinating antiterror efforts, setting up an antiterror intelligence center to
supervise the tracing of capital and finances funding terrorist groups.
In July 2005, the EU Council decided to launch
cross-border investigations into terrorists and boost cooperation in fields such
as defusing terror plots, cracking terror nets, cutting terror capital and
exchanging related intelligence.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has set
antiterrorism as one of its priorities since it was established in 2001.
In January 2002, foreign ministers from the SCO
member states signed a communiqué, setting the fight against terrorism,
separatism and extremism as one of the key tenets of SCO cooperation.
In June 2002, the SCO signed a pact on coordinating
regional antiterror efforts and decided to establish the Regional Antiterrorism
Structure (RATS).
In June 2004, the RATS was formally launched in
Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) also
attaches great importance to antiterror cooperation.
In October 2001, the CIS Collective Security Treaty
Organization issued a joint statement, vowing to strengthen intelligence
cooperation on antiterrorism.
On Sept. 16, 2004, a CIS summit issued a statement on
boosting antiterror efforts by adopting a series of practical measures. On Dec.
25, 2004, the CIS signed a plan to launch an antiterror program for 2005.
Other international and regional organizations such
as the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have also
made contributions to the world antiterror campaign by establishing antiterror
centers and intelligence databases, coordinating regional antiterror efforts and
boosting antiterror cooperation. Enditem
