St. Petersburg Summit: Counter-Terrorism

G7/G8 Summits | St. Petersburg Summit Documents

G8 Summit Declaration on Counter-Terrorism

St. Petersburg, July 16, 2006

We, the Leaders of the G8, meeting in St. Petersburg, categorically denounce terrorist attacks worldwide and condemn in the strongest terms those who perpetrate these atrocities and bring untold suffering and death to citizens. We express our deepest sympathy with all victims of these attacks. If terrorism and violent extremism are permitted to exist anywhere, they diminish our societies everywhere. Today we pledge that we will not rest until the terrible blight of terrorism has been removed from our daily lives.

The global terrorist threat requires a global response. Coordinated action on our part, and with our international partners, will reduce the likelihood of attacks and address their terrible consequences. To that end, and with unified resolve, we will enhance cooperation among ourselves and with other States in the following priority areas:

1. We recognize that the United Nations has a central role and is uniquely suited to achieve universal agreement among States on the condemnation of terrorism. In the attached statement, we express our resolve to support and strengthen the United Nations' (UN) counter-terrorism efforts and to enhance the role of the entire UN system in coordinating its important work in this area. We will report next year at our Summit in Germany on the results of our efforts.

2. We recognize the urgency of enhancing our cooperation with regard to counter terrorist and other criminal attacks on critical energy infrastructure facilities. We announce a plan of action to secure global critical energy infrastructure, including defining and ranking vulnerabilities of critical energy infrastructure sites, assessing emerging and potential risks of terrorist attacks, and developing best practices for effective security across all energy sectors within our countries.

3. We emphasize the importance in a globalized world of working closely with our private sector partners in our efforts to counter-terrorism and to bolster capacity to protect our citizens and businesses as they pursue their work and leisure. We commend the Global Forum for Partnerships between Government and Businesses to Counter-Terrorism, to be held in Moscow in November 2006 and commit to close cooperation within the G8, with other States and with business partners to make this initiative a sustained and successful process.

4. We reaffirm our commitment to collaborative work, with our international partners, to combat the terrorist threat, including:

implementing and improving the international legal framework on counter-terrorism;
ensuring national legislation is adapted, as appropriate, to address new terrorist challenges;
suppressing attempts by terrorists to gain access to weapons and other means of mass destruction;
engaging in active dialogue with civil society to help prevent terrorism;
enhancing efforts to counter the financing of terrorism based on agreed standards;
developing and implementing an effective strategy to counter terrorist propaganda and recruitment, including with regard to the use of suicide bombers;
effectively countering attempts to misuse cyberspace for terrorist purposes, including incitement to commit terrorist acts, to communicate and plan terrorist acts, as well as recruitment and training of terrorists;
preventing any abuse of the migration regime for terrorist purposes while at the same time facilitating legitimate travel;
bringing to justice, in accordance with obligations under international law, those guilty of terrorist acts, as well as their sponsors, supporters, those who plan such acts and those who incite terrorist acts;
ensuring and promoting respect for international law, including international human rights law, refugee law and humanitarian law in all our counter-terrorism efforts;
promoting supply chain security, based on existing international standards and best practices;
promoting international cooperation in subway, rail and road security and in raising standards in aviation, and maritime security.

In the area of transport security, we welcome the declaration and statements adopted at the Ministerial Conference on International Transport Security in Tokyo on January 12-13, 2006, and its first operational outcomes, particularly the international working group on land transport security. We also welcome the outcome of the International Ministerial Conference on Combating Drug Routes from Afghanistan ("Paris 2 - Moscow 1") that took place in Moscow on June 26-28, 2006.

Our collective determination to prevent terrorism and to ensure peace and freedom for our citizens and the people of the world is undiminished. We reiterate our continued resolve to work together to reduce the terrorist threat while protecting fundamental rights and liberties that we have struggled so long to establish. We reaffirm our unshakable belief that terrorism will not succeed. We will advance the ideals of peace, freedom and democracy based on the rule of law.

Source: Official website of the Russian G8 presidency

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