UNIPATH STAFF
The Arab League adopted an Egyptian resolution to develop a pan-Arab counterterrorism system, according to an official statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2017.
The resolution was approved just days after terrorists murdered 311 civilians at Friday prayers at Al-Rawdah mosque in North Sinai.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said the resolution reinforces efforts to build consensus in support of Egypt’s counterterrorism vision. In line with the view of the Egyptian government, the resolution called combating terrorism a fundamental human right.
The resolution called for implementing the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism signed in 1998. It criminalizes not just terrorists but those who support, incite and finance them.
The resolution also recommitted the Arab League to the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Strategy and Security Council resolutions to counter extremist narratives.
The goal, Abu Zeid said, was to ratify a worldwide agreement that provides a universal definition of terrorism that distinguishes it from legitimate armed resistance movements.