Slovenian Action Plan in the Fight Against Terrorism

IN FOCUS

December, 2001

Slovenia confirms its solidarity with the United States and its participation in the international anti-terrorist coalition. Slovenia is determined to participate in the activities of this coalition to the best of its abilities;
As a candidate for NATO and an ally, Slovenia is committed to taking its part of responsibility to contribute to international peace and security and in particular to the international fight against terrorism.

The Government and the Council for National Security are closely monitoring the activities in Slovenia to fight terrorism. The Government prepared a national Action Plan;

Suppressing the financing of terrorism

The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism was signed on November 10 and is in the ratification procedure;
Slovenia is implementing financial sanctions against the Taliban as envisaged by the relevant SC resolutions and its lists of terrorists and terrorist organizations;
Money laundering is regulated by the new Money Laundering Act which enables proper tracking and control of financial transactions of persons linked to terrorist activities;
The Government is preparing an amendment to the Penal Code, with special emphasis on the incrimination of the financing of terrorism;
In accordance with the UN request, Slovenia is considering nominating experts for the Counter- Terrorism Committee pool.

Police:

Slovenia exerts strict control over its borders and procedures for issuing visas. So far, there has been no information of the presence of terrorist groups or individuals among illegal immigrants in Slovenia;
On 1 October 2001, Slovenia signed the Cooperation Agreement with EUROPOL (as the first non-EU member);

Conventions:

Slovenia is party to eight of twelve anti-terrorist conventions. Of the remaining four:

The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism was signed;
The International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings is in the process of ratification;
Preparations have been under way for signing the remaining two international conventions on terrorism (Convention for the suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf);
Slovenia supports the accelerated work on the UN general convention against international terrorism and will actively participate in its adoption.

Effective control of movements of individuals or groups belonging to terrorist networks depends to a large extent onregional cooperation.

EU: Slovenia is fully associating itself with the activities, Declarations and Action Plan of the EU, and also participated at the European Conference on Terrorism (20 October);
The Warsaw Conference on Combating Terrorism for Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (6 November) adopted a Declaration and an Action Plan which envisage:
- deeper co-operation in exchanging information on terrorism,
- convocation of a Conference on Tolerance and Education on Multiculturalism,
- creation of the International Research Institute on Terrorism,
- establishment of the Aid Foundation for victims of terrorism all over the world,
- establishment of a Training Centre for anti-terrorist units,
- implementation of a system to monitor the problems of international terrorism.
On November 29, 2001 the Second Regional Conference of the ministers for foreign affairs of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia took place in Bratislava. One of the main topics of the conference was the fight against terrorism and regional cooperation among participating countries in this field;
Slovenia hosted a Regional Conference of Ministers of the Interior of Austria, Croatia, Italy, Hungary and Slovenia, held on October 1, 2001 which was also attended by the Minister of the Interior of Belgium as the country holding the EU Presidency;
The Slovenian Office for Money Laundering Prevention is starting project of establishing a system for money laundering prevention in Montenegro.

The Slovene Intelligence Agency and Police strengthened their cooperation with their US partners in intelligence sharing;
The Office for Money Laundering Prevention works closely with American institutions. At their request, the Office carried out a few specific verifications of the lists of entities and persons listed in the Presidential Executive Order. There were no "positive hits" and no confirmation of existence of financial transactions in the Republic of Slovenia;

Slovenia dispatched humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in the amount of USD 120.000 (tents, blankets, clothes) - (Government & Red Cross);
The Government decided to offer additional forms of cooperation in the anti-terrorist coalition on the basis of special requirements during the humanitarian operation in Afghanistan. This offer includes assistance in air control, storage of shipments of humanitarian aid in transit, airport services and setting up of a depo for humanitarian aid at one of the airports in Slovenia;
A proposal will be submitted to the Board of Advisors of the International Trust Fund for Demining to examine the possibilities of the ITF to take part in the demining efforts in Afghanistan after the conflict is over.

Slovenia strengthened its activities in the region of South Eastern Europe:
We are ready to strengthen our participation in the international military and police forces which now stands at 110 military and 20 police personel;
ITF, a joint US-Slovenia project, is the leading regional demining institution. Last year ITF demined 80% of all demined area in Bosnia and Hercegovina. It has already concluded demining in Kosovo;
Slovenia is establishing a Regional Center for the Psychosocial well-being of Children of SE Europe.