Combatting International Terrorism

In the framework of cooperation to counter international terrorism, the Republic of Belarus is party to all major universal legal instruments in this field concluded under the auspices of the United Nations.

Belarus supported the adoption in 2006 of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. This Strategy was the first document of its kind, containing common strategic approach to countering terrorism on the basis of joint national, regional and international efforts of the UN member states.

In June 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution “Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy”, which outlined new areas of work in the fight against terrorism. On 28-29 June 2018, the first in the UN history conference of the Heads of the Counter-Terrorism agencies of the Organization’s member states took place in New York, in which the Belarusian delegation also took part. The subsequent second and third conferences were held on June 28-30, 2021 and on 19-20 June, 2023, respectively. As a contribution to the common efforts to combat terrorism, the information on Belarus' international cooperation in this area was submitted to the organizers of the conferences.

In recent years, Belarus has hosted a number of significant events in the counterterrorism field.

In October 2018 a high-level international conference “Preventing and Combating Terrorism in the Digital Era” was held in Minsk under the auspices of the OSCE. 

An important event was the international conference of Belarus and the United Nations “Combating terrorism through innovative approaches and the use of new and emerging technologies”, held on September 3-4, 2019 in Minsk. This reputable counterterrorism forum brought together more than 400 representatives from 55 states, 10 international and regional organizations, NGOs and the expert community. The President of the Republic of Belarus A.Lukashenko, as well as the OSCE Secretary General T.Greminger, UN Deputy Secretary General V.Voronkov, and CIS Executive Secretary S.Lebedev made a keynote speech at the conference opening.

Belarus has been participating in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which assembles today 88 Partner Nations. This Initiative, which is of voluntary nature, aims at facilitating the development of necessary infrastructure of accounting and control of nuclear and radioactive materials, improving the capabilities to detect and investigate illicit trafficking of such materials, and increasing the security level at the civilian nuclear facilities.

The regional efforts in combatting terrorism are streamlined within the Commonwealth of Independent States. CIS Member States have developed legal framework for such cooperation, including the Treaty on Cooperation of CIS Member States in Combatting Terrorism signed in Minsk in 1999. The coordination of the activities of competent authorities is facilitated through the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre.

As a Member State of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Belarus participates in this Organization’s activities to counter terrorism, drug trafficking and other security threats and challenges. The cooperation is maintained in the form dialogue between national anti-terrorism organs and special units, conduct of training and exercises on combatting illicit drug trafficking, illegal migration and cybercrimes.

The Republic of Belarus is a member of the Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG). This regional organization, patterned after Financial Action Task Force (FATF), aims at facilitation of the effective integration of its member states into the international infrastructure for combatting money laundering and terrorism financing according to FATF Recommendations and other international organizations’ standards.

Belarus is constantly working to improve national legislation, policies and practices in the field of combating terrorism.