Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) [on Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters]

S/RES/2396 (2017)View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Security Council, under agenda item 31 Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, published in 2017.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Aviation Security Counter-Terrorism Foreign Terrorist Fighters International Cooperation International Security Sanctions Compliance Terrorism

What’s in this document?

51 operative paragraphs

Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations

Recalls its decision in resolution 2178 that all Member States shall establish serious criminal offenses regarding the travel, recruitment, and financing of foreign terrorist fighters, urges Member States to fully implement their obligations in this regard, including to ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offenses sufficient to provide the ability to prosecute and to penalize in a manner duly reflecting the seriousness of the offense, and reiterates its call on Member States to cooperate and support each other’s efforts to counter violent extremism conducive to terrorism;

Border Security and Information Sharing

Calls upon Member States to prevent the movement of terrorists by effective national border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents, and through measures for preventing counterfeiting, forgery or fraudulent use of identity papers and travel documents;

Calls upon Member States to notify, in a timely manner, upon travel, arrival, or deportation of captured or detained individuals whom they have reasonable grounds to believe are terrorists, including suspected foreign terrorist fighters, including, as appropriate, the source country, destination country, any transit countries, all countries where the travelers hold citizenship, and including any additional relevant information about the individuals, and further calls upon Member States to cooperate and respond expeditiously and appropriately, and consistent with applicable international law, and to share such information with INTERPOL, as appropriate;

Further calls upon Member States to assess and investigate individuals whom they have reasonable grounds to believe are terrorists, including suspected foreign terrorist fighters, and distinguish them from other individuals, including their accompanying family members who may not have been engaged in foreign terrorist fighter-related offenses, including by employing evidence-based risk assessments, screening procedures, and the collection and analysis of travel data, in accordance with domestic and international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law, as applicable, without resorting to profiling based on any discriminatory ground prohibited by international law;

Calls upon Member States, in accordance with domestic and international law, to intensify and accelerate the timely exchange of relevant operational information and financial intelligence regarding actions or movements, and patterns of movements, of terrorists or terrorist networks, including foreign terrorist fighters, including those who have travelled to the conflict zones or are suspected to have travelled to the conflict zones, and their families travelling back to their countries of origin or nationality, or to third countries, from conflict zones, especially the exchange of information with their countries of origin, residence or nationality, transit, as well as their destination country, through national, bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, such as INTERPOL;

Urges Member States to expeditiously exchange information, through bilateral or multilateral mechanisms and in accordance with domestic and international law, concerning the identity of foreign terrorist fighters, including, as appropriate, foreign terrorist fighters of more than one nationality with Member States whose nationality the foreign terrorist fighter holds, as well as to ensure consular access by those Member States to their own detained nationals, in accordance with applicable international and domestic law;

Calls upon Member States to take appropriate action, consistent with domestic law and applicable international law, including human rights law, to ensure that their domestic law enforcement, intelligence, counterterrorism, and military entities routinely have access to relevant information, as appropriate, about suspected terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters;

Urges that Member States consider, where appropriate, downgrading for official use intelligence threat and related travel data related to foreign terrorist fighters and individual terrorists, to appropriately provide such information domestically to front-line screeners, such as immigration, customs and border security agencies, and to appropriately share such information with other concerned States and relevant international organizations in compliance with international and domestic national law and policy; and to share good practices in this regard;

Welcomes the approval by ICAO of the new Global Aviation Security Plan (GASeP) that provides the foundation for ICAO, Member States, the civil aviation industry, and other stakeholders to work together with the shared and common goal of enhancing aviation security worldwide and to achieve five key priority outcomes, namely to enhance risk awareness and response, to develop security culture and human capability, to improve technological resources and innovation, to improve oversight and quality assurance, and to increase cooperation and support, and calls for action at the global, regional, and national levels, as well as by industry and other stakeholders, in raising the level of effective implementation of global aviation security, urges ICAO, Member States, the civil aviation industry, and other relevant stakeholders to implement the GASeP and to fulfil the specific measures and tasks assigned to them in Appendix A to the GASeP, the Global Aviation Security Plan Roadmap, and encourages Member States to consider contributions to support ICAO’s work on aviation security;

Further welcomes the recognition in the GASeP of the importance of enhancing risk awareness and response, underlines the importance of a wider understanding of the threats and risks facing civil aviation, and calls upon all Member States to work within ICAO to ensure that its international security standards and recommended practices as set out in Annex 17 of the Chicago Convention and related to ICAO guidance material, are updated and reviewed, as appropriate, to effectively address the threat posed by terrorists targeting civil aviation;

Decides that, in furtherance of paragraph 9 of resolution 2178 and the standard established by ICAO that its Member States establish advance passenger information (API) systems as of October 23, 2017, that Member States shall require airlines operating in their territories to provide API to the appropriate national authorities, in accordance with domestic law and international obligations, in order to detect the departure from their territories, or attempted travel to, entry into or transit through their territories, by means of civil aircraft, of foreign terrorist fighters and individuals designated by the Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015), and further calls upon Member States to report any such departure from their territories, or such attempted entry into or transit through their territories, by sharing this information with the State of residence or nationality, or the countries of return, transit or relocation, and relevant international organizations as appropriate and in accordance with domestic law and international obligations, and to ensure API is analysed by all relevant authorities, with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for the purpose of preventing, detecting, and investigating terrorist offenses and travel;

Decides that Member States shall develop the capability to collect, process and analyse, in furtherance of ICAO standards and recommended practices, passenger name record (PNR) data and to ensure PNR data is used by and shared with all their competent national authorities, with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for the purpose of preventing, detecting and investigating terrorist offenses and related travel, further calls upon Member States, the UN, and other international, regional, and subregional entities to provide technical assistance, resources and capacity building to Member States in order to implement such capabilities, and, where appropriate, encourages Member States to share PNR data with relevant or concerned Member States to detect foreign terrorist fighters returning to their countries of origin or nationality, or traveling or relocating to a third country, with particular regard for all individuals designated by the Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011), and 2253 (2015), and also urges ICAO to work with its Member States to establish a standard for the collection, use, processing and protection of PNR data;

Decides that Member States shall develop watch lists or databases of known and suspected terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters, for use by law enforcement, border security, customs, military, and intelligence agencies to screen travelers and conduct risk assessments and investigations, in compliance with domestic and international law, including human rights law, and encourages Member States to share this information through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, in compliance with domestic and international human rights law, and further encourages the facilitation of capacity building and technical assistance by Member States and other relevant Organizations to Member States as they seek to implement this obligation;

Encourages improved cooperation between ICAO and CTED, in coordination with other relevant UN entities, in identifying areas where Member States may need technical assistance and capacity-building to implement the obligations of this resolution related to PNR and API and watch lists, as well as implementation of the GaSEP;

Decides that Member States shall develop and implement systems to collect biometric data, which could include fingerprints, photographs, facial recognition, and other relevant identifying biometric data, in order to responsibly and properly identify terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters, in compliance with domestic law and international human rights law, calls upon other Member States, international, regional, and subregional entities to provide technical assistance, resources, and capacity building to Member States in order to implement such systems and encourages Member States to share this data responsibly among relevant Member States, as appropriate, and with INTERPOL and other relevant international bodies;

Calls upon Member States to contribute to and make use of INTERPOL’s databases and ensure that Member States’ law enforcement, border security and customs agencies are connected to these databases through their National Central Bureaus, and make regular use of INTERPOL databases for use in screening travelers at air, land and sea ports of entry and to strengthen investigations and risk assessments of returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters and their families, and further calls upon Member States to continue sharing information regarding all lost and stolen travel documents with INTERPOL, as appropriate and consistent with domestic law and applicable international law to enhance the operational effectiveness of INTERPOL databases and notices;

Judicial Measures and International Cooperation

Recalls its decision, in resolution 1373 (2001), that all Member States shall ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in support of terrorist acts is brought to justice, and further recalls its decision that all States shall ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offenses sufficient to provide the ability to prosecute and to penalize the activities described in paragraph 6 of resolution 2178 in a manner duly reflecting the seriousness of the offense;

Urges Member States, in accordance with domestic and applicable international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to develop and implement appropriate investigative and prosecutorial strategies, regarding those suspected of the foreign terrorist fighter-related offenses described in paragraph 6 of resolution 2178 (2014);

Reaffirms that those responsible for committing or otherwise responsible for terrorist acts, and violations of international humanitarian law or violations or abuses of human rights in this context, must be held accountable;

Calls upon Member States, including through relevant Central Authorities, as well as UNODC and other relevant UN entities that support capacity building, to share best practices and technical expertise, informally and formally, with a view to improving the collection, handling, preservation and sharing of relevant information and evidence, in accordance with domestic law and the obligations Member States have undertaken under international law, including information obtained from the internet, or in conflict zones, in order to ensure foreign terrorist fighters who have committed crimes, including those returning and relocating to and from the conflict zone, may be prosecuted;

Encourages enhancing Member State cooperation with the private sector, in accordance with applicable law, especially with information communication technology companies, in gathering digital data and evidence in cases related to terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters;

Calls upon Member States to improve international, regional, and sub regional cooperation, if appropriate through multilateral and bilateral agreements, to prevent the undetected travel of foreign terrorist fighters from or through their territories, especially returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters, including through increased sharing of information for the purpose of identifying foreign terrorist fighters, the sharing and adoption of best practices, and improved understanding of the patterns of travel by foreign terrorist fighters and their families, and for Member States to act cooperatively when taking national measures to prevent terrorists from exploiting technology, communications and resources to support terrorist acts, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms and consistent with their obligations under domestic and applicable international law;

Recalls its decision in resolution 1373 (2001) that Member States shall afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal investigations or proceedings relating to the financing or support of terrorist acts, including assistance in obtaining evidence in their possession necessary for the proceedings, and further underscores that this includes physical and digital evidence, underlines the importance of fulfilling this obligation with respect to such investigations or proceedings involving foreign terrorist fighters, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms and consistent with obligations under domestic and applicable international law; and urges Member States to act in accordance with their obligations under international law in order to find and bring to justice, extradite or prosecute any person who supports, facilitates, participates or attempts to participate in the direct or indirect financing of activities conducted by terrorists or terrorist groups;

Underscores the need for Member States to strengthen international judicial cooperation, as outlined in Resolution 2322 and in light of the evolving threat of foreign terrorist fighters, including, as appropriate, to use applicable international instruments to which they are parties as a basis for mutual legal assistance and, as appropriate, for extradition in terrorism cases, reiterates its call on Member States to consider strengthening the implementation of, and where appropriate, to review possibilities for enhancing the effectiveness of, their respective bilateral and multilateral treaties concerning extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal matters related to counterterrorism, and encourages Member States, in the absence of applicable conventions or provisions, to cooperate when possible on the basis of reciprocity or on a case by case basis, and reiterates its call upon Member States to consider the possibility of allowing, through appropriate laws and mechanisms, the transfer of criminal proceedings, as appropriate, in terrorism-related cases and recognizing the role of UNODC is providing technical assistance and expertise in this regard;

Calls upon Member States to help build the capacity of other Member States to address the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighter returnees and relocators and their accompanying family members, prioritizing those Member States most affected by the threat, including to prevent and monitor foreign terrorist fighter travel across land and maritime borders, and to help collect and preserve evidence admissible in judicial proceedings;

Calls upon Member States to improve domestic information sharing within their respective criminal justice systems in order to more effectively monitor returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters and other individuals radicalized to violence or directed by ISIL or other terrorist groups to commit terrorist acts, in accordance with international law;

Calls upon Member States to establish or strengthen national, regional and international partnerships with stakeholders, both public and private, as appropriate, to share information and experience in order to prevent, protect, mitigate, investigate, respond to and recover from damage from terrorist attacks against “soft” targets;

Urges States able to do so to assist in the delivery of effective and targeted capacity development, training and other necessary resources, and technical assistance, where it is needed to enable all States to develop appropriate capacity to implement contingency and response plans with regard to attacks on “soft” targets;

Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Strategies

Calls upon Member States to assess and investigate suspected individuals whom they have reasonable grounds to believe are terrorists, including suspected foreign terrorist fighters and their accompanying family members, including spouses and children, entering those Member States’ territories, to develop and implement comprehensive risk assessments for those individuals, and to take appropriate action, including by considering appropriate prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration measures and emphasizes that Member States should ensure that they take all such action in compliance with domestic and international law;

Calls upon Member States, emphasizing that they are obliged, in accordance with resolution 1373, to ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice, to develop and implement comprehensive and tailored prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration strategies and protocols, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including with respect to foreign terrorist fighters and spouses and children accompanying returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters, as well as their suitability for rehabilitation, and to do so in consultation, as appropriate, with local communities, mental health and education practitioners and other relevant civil society organizations and actors, and requests UNODC and other relevant UN agencies, consistent with their existing mandates and resources, and other relevant actors to continue providing technical assistance to Member States, upon request, in this regard;

Emphasizes that women and children associated with foreign terrorist fighters returning or relocating to and from conflict may have served in many different roles, including as supporters, facilitators, or perpetrators of terrorist acts, and require special focus when developing tailored prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration strategies, and stresses the importance of assisting women and children associated with foreign terrorist fighters who may be victims of terrorism, and to do so taking into account gender and age sensitivities;

Underscores the importance of a whole of government approach and recognizes the role civil society organizations can play, including in the health, social welfare and education sectors in contributing to the rehabilitation and reintegration of returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters and their families, as civil society organizations may have relevant knowledge of, access to and engagement with local communities to be able to confront the challenges of recruitment and radicalization to violence, and encourages Member States to engage with them proactively when developing rehabilitation and reintegration strategies;

Stresses the need to effectively counter the ways that ISIL, Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities use their narratives to incite and recruit others to commit terrorist acts, and further recalls in this regard resolution 2354 (2017) and the “Comprehensive International Framework to Counter Terrorist Narratives” (S/2017/375) with recommended guidelines and good practices;

Encourages Member States to collaborate in the pursuit of developing and implementing effective counter-narrative strategies in accordance with resolution 2354 (2017), including those relating to foreign terrorist fighters, in a manner compliant with their obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, as applicable;

Reiterates that States should consider engaging, where appropriate, with religious authorities, community leaders and other civil society actors, who have relevant expertise in crafting and delivering effective counter-narratives, in countering narratives used by terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters, and their supporters;

Recognizes the particular importance of providing, through a whole of government approach, timely and appropriate reintegration and rehabilitation assistance to children associated with foreign terrorist fighters returning or relocating from conflict zones, including through access to health care, psychosocial support and education programs that contribute to the well-being of children and to sustainable peace and security;

Encourages Member States to develop appropriate legal safeguards to ensure that prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration strategies developed are in full compliance with their international law obligations, including in cases involving children;

Calls upon Member States to develop and implement risk assessment tools to identify individuals who demonstrate signs of radicalization to violence and develop intervention programs, including with a gender perspective, as appropriate, before such individuals commit acts of terrorism, in compliance with applicable international and domestic law and without resorting to profiling based on any discriminatory grounds prohibited by international law;

Encourages Member States, as well as international, regional, and sub-regional entities to ensure participation and leadership of women in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of these strategies for addressing returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters and their families;

Encourages Member States to take all appropriate actions to maintain a safe and humane environment in prisons, develop tools that can help address radicalization to violence and terrorist recruitment, and to develop risk assessments to assess the risks of prison inmates’ susceptibility to terrorist recruitment and radicalization to violence, and develop tailored and gender-sensitive strategies to address and counter terrorist narratives within the prison system, consistent with international humanitarian law and human rights law, as applicable and in accordance with relevant international law and taking into consideration, as appropriate, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, or “Nelson Mandela Rules”;

Encourages Member States to take all appropriate actions to prevent inmates who have been convicted of terrorism-related offenses from radicalizing other prisoners to violence, with whom they may come into contact, in compliance with domestic and international law;

United Nations Efforts on Returning and Relocating Foreign Terrorist Fighters

Reaffirms that foreign terrorist fighters and those who finance or otherwise facilitate their travel and subsequent activities may be eligible for inclusion on the ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions List maintained by the Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011), and 2253 (2015) where they participate in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to, or recruiting for, or otherwise supporting acts or activities of Al-Qaida, ISIL, or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof, and calls upon States to propose such foreign terrorist fighters and those who facilitate or finance their travel and subsequent activities for possible designation;

Directs the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, in close cooperation with all relevant United Nations counter-terrorism bodies, to continue to devote special focus to the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, specifically those associated with ISIL, ANF and all groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaida;

Requests the Counter-Terrorism Committee, within its existing mandate and with the support of Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), to review the 2015 Madrid Guiding Principles in light of the evolving threat of foreign terrorist fighters, particularly returnees, relocators and their families, and other principal gaps that may hinder States’ abilities to appropriately detect, interdict, and where possible, prosecute, rehabilitate and reintegrate foreign terrorist fighter returnees and relocators and their families, as well as to continue to identify new good practices and to facilitate technical assistance, upon their request, specifically by promoting engagement between providers of capacity-building assistance and recipients, especially those in the most affected regions, including through the development of comprehensive counter-terrorism strategies that encompass countering radicalization to violence and the return and relocation of foreign terrorist fighters and their families, recalling the roles of other relevant actors, for example the Global Counterterrorism Forum;

Further requests CTED, in coordination with UNODC and other relevant UN bodies, INTERPOL, and the private sector, and in collaboration with Member States, to continue to collect and develop best practices on the systematic categorization, collection and sharing among Member States of biometric data, with a view to improving biometric standards and improving the collection and use of biometric data to effectively identify terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters, including through the facilitation of capacity building, as appropriate;

Requests the Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee to update the Security Council on their respective efforts pursuant to this resolution, as appropriate;

Encourages relevant UN entities, including UNODC and UNOCT, to further enhance, in close consultation with the Counter-Terrorism Committee and CTED, the provision and delivery of technical assistance to States, upon request, to better support Member State efforts to implement this resolution;

Notes that the implementation of aspects of this resolution, especially PNR and biometric data collection, can be resource-intensive and take an extended period of time to develop and make operational, directs CTED to take this into consideration when assessing Member States’ implementation of relevant resolutions, and in its furtherance of facilitating technical assistance as requested in paragraph 47;

Urges the Office of Counterterrorism to incorporate CTED assessments and identification of emerging issues, trends and developments as related to foreign terrorist fighters into the design and implementation of their work, in accordance with their respective mandates, as well as to enhance cooperation with relevant UN counter-terrorism entities such as CTED, UNODC, the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, and INTERPOL;

Requests the Office of Counterterrorism, in close cooperation with CTED, including through use of CTED country assessments, to review the UN Capacity Building Implementation Plan to counter the Flow of FTFs, as called for under S/PRST/2015/11, to ensure that the Plan supports Member States in their efforts to implement the priorities of this resolution, the establishment of effective API systems, the development of PNR capability, the development of effective biometric data systems, the improvement of judicial procedures, and the development of comprehensive and tailored prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration strategies, further requests OCT to communicate the prioritization of these projects and any updates to the plan to all Member States and relevant international, regional, and sub-regional bodies by June 2018, and to continue incorporating CTED country assessments in its Plan on a routine basis, further requests OCT to develop ways to measure the effectiveness of these projects, and calls upon Member States, as appropriate, to provide the resources needed to implement these projects;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.