CDCT (2018) 7 Cdct/Docs 2018/Cdct (2018)7

Strasbourg, 20 September 2018 CDCT (2018) 7 cdct/docs 2018/cdct (2018)7

COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITTEE ON COUNTER-TERRORISM (CDCT)

CDCT SUB-GROUP ON DEFINITION OF TERRORISM

INFORMATION DOCUMENT

1st Meeting

Strasbourg (France), 16-17 October 2018

Council of Europe, Palais, Room 5

Opening at 09:30, Tuesday

Closing at 17:00, Wednesday

Document prepared by the CDCT Secretariat Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law

www.coe.int/cdpc | [email protected]

Introduction

At its 1st plenary meeting, held on 16 – 18 May 2018, the Council of Europe Committee on Counter-Terrorism (CDCT) decided to set-up a Sub-Group for the purpose of examining the feasibility of elaborating a definition of terrorism to replace or augment the current wording of Article 1 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196), and/or its Appendix1. To this end, the Sub-Group shall prepare a report to be submitted to the CDCT for further deliberation – normally by the end of 2019.

The 1st meeting of the aforementioned Sub-Group will be held on 16 – 17 October 2018. It is expected that a minimum of three meetings will be necessary for the Sub-Group to conclude its tasks.

1st meeting of the Sub-Group of the CDCT on Definition of Terrorism

The 1st meeting of the Sub-Group will in a first stage focus on a general round of exchange of views on the feasibility of having a pan-European definition of terrorism to replace or augment Article 1 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196). On the basis of these exchanges, the Sub-Group shall decide on the (abstract) feasibility of elaborating such a definition and on the advantages and disadvantages of the four options contained in the aforementioned Discussion Paper, or any other proposals submitted by the participating experts.

As a basis for the deliberations of the Sub-Group, the following documents (prepared by the Secretariat and already submitted to the CODEXTER / the CDCT) will be re-examined and discussed during this 1st meeting:

- The Discussion Paper on a definition of terrorism for the 2005 Warsaw Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CODEXTER-BU(2017)5-rev), and

- The added value of a pan-European definition of terrorism for the 2005 Warsaw Convention (CDCT-BU(2018)1)

Any proposals submitted by the participating experts will of course also be taken into account in the discussions.

Expected results of the 1st meeting

As outcomes of the 1st meeting, the Sub-Group is expected to take the following decisions: a) - On the (abstract) feasibility of having a pan-European definition of terrorism to replace or amend Article 1 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196).

1 as established in the Terms of Reference of the Sub-Group which are appended to the Abridged Report, List of Items Discussed and Decisions Taken as Appendix I (CDCT (2018) 5). 2

- On whether to propose to the CDCT to elaborate such a definition or not.

- On the identification of those options, to be considered as most suitable to pursue. b)

- On issuing preliminary instructions to the Secretariat on the broad outline of the report to be submitted to the CDCT containing the Sub-Group’s findings.

Next steps

After this 1st meeting, a first preliminary draft of the aforementioned report will be prepared by the Secretariat together with the academic expert appointed for the purpose, Professor Ana Salinas (University of Malaga).

This preliminary draft will be submitted to the Sub-Group for further discussion and elaboration at its second and third meetings (both scheduled for 2019).