The UN Security Council has adopted resolution initiated by Ukraine and held an open debate on the protection of the critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks

On February 13, 2017  under the presidency of Mr. Pavlo Klimkin, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the UN Security Council adopted the first-ever resolution on the protection of the critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks initiated by Ukraine.

"The resolution 2341 (2017) aims at further enhancing the effectiveness of the overall effort to counter terrorist attacks against critical infrastructure, in particular in the framework of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy", said Pavlo Klimkin at the UN Security Council.  

The head of the Ukrainian foreign office also added that the adopted document is a timely response by the international community to emerging and rapidly evolving threats posed by terrorism. In his opinion, the intensification of protection of the critical infrastructure is a crucial step towards the global preparedness to the attacks that endanger the functioning of our societies and lives of ordinary people.   

 Among its main elements are:

·          raising awareness and strengthening knowledge and understanding of the threats posed by terrorism to critical infrastructure;

·          improving resilience by promoting methods of planning, prevention, crisis management and recovery on the basis of respective strategies;

·         strengthening the capacity of states, their public and private sectors, to withstand and manage terrorist attacks, including through provision of technical assistance;

·         ensuring the criminal responsibility for terrorist attacks intended to destroy or disable critical infrastructure, as well as the planning of, training for, and financing of such attacks;

·        enhancing international and regional cooperation to protect critical infrastructure, including regional connectivity projects and related cross-border infrastructure;

·           intensifying open exchange of relevant information between all stakeholders and law enforcement agencies. 

The resolution was co-sponsored by 45 UN member states (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, the US and Uruguay). 

After the adoption of the resolution, the UN Security Council held a debate, in which more than 50 UN member states have participated. Among the main speakers of the debate were the UN administration, the Secretary General of Interpol, representatives of the International Maritime organization, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and representatives of the academic community. 

 Original