Foreign Minister Julie Bishop urges 'coordinated and strategic' international approach to tackling terrorism

20 Nov 2014,

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has chaired a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council, calling on the international community to do more to tackle terrorism.

Australia is nearing the end of its two-year term on the Security Council, a seat that has given it a chance to play a key role in handling issues like the crash of flight MH17 and the threat of the Islamic State (IS) group.

It is hoped today's meeting, which focused on the threat of jihadists in Iraq and Syria, will build on the Security Council's special summit in September, which explored ways to combat citizens heading abroad to fight alongside militants in the Middle East.

Ms Bishop said the international community must provide leadership and do all it can to denounce radical preachers of hate around the world.

"ISIL and its ilk are an affront to Islam. All of us, including Muslim communities themselves, must do more to negate the violent extremist narratives of terrorists and denounce radical preachers of hate in our midst," she said.

"Every country has an obligation to prevent terrorism. Every country has an obligation not to export terrorist capabilities.

"Each one has a responsibility to degrade the resources of terrorist organisations and to prevent the spread of their evil propaganda."

Bishop urges 'coordinated and strategic message'

The Security Council was meeting to follow up on a resolution adopted in August aimed at stemming the flow of foreign fighters and financing to Islamist groups who now control vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

"Today's presidential statement builds on these resolutions. It identifies practical next steps to stop the recruitment and travel of foreign terrorist fighters, to ensure that there is no place for their toxic ideologies in our communities and to disrupt each and every terrorist organisation's funding sources," Ms Bishop said.

Terrorists seem younger, more violent and highly interconnected. They are masters of social media to terrorise and to recruit and are very tech savvy.

Julie Bishop

"This statement reaffirms the international community's unflinching resolve - we must starve terrorist organisations of fighters, funding and legitimacy. We must act decisively and together."

Ms Bishop also called for the appointment of a UN envoy to build a "coordinated and strategic message" to counter the spread of violent extremism.

"The threat from ISIL or Daish, Al-Nusra Front and other Al Qaeda affiliated groups is more dangerous, more global and more diversified than ever before," she said.

"Terrorists seem younger, more violent and highly interconnected. They are masters of social media to terrorise and to recruit and are very tech savvy. They incite each other.

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"They communicate their propaganda and violence directly into our homes to recruit disaffected young men and women.

"Young people like a 17-year-old from Melbourne who grew up in a typical Australian household and played sport for his local high school recently travelled to Iraq and detonated his explosives vest in a suicide bomb attack in a Baghdad market place, injuring more than 90 people.

Ms Bishop told the meeting that the Australian Government had taken necessary steps at home to fight terrorism.

"The Australian Government has cancelled the passports of more than 70 Australians suspected of planning to commit a terrorist act or engage in politically motivated violence overseas," she said.

"Australia already has in place sophisticated legal architecture to effectively counter terrorism, including enabling us to implement those obligations on all member states under Security Council resolution 12373.

"I used these existing laws last week to freeze the assets of two Australians who were recruiting for ISIL online."