[Title] Statement by the heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on joint counteraction to international terrorism

We, the heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, note with profound concern that international terrorism continues to represent an increasingly dangerous global threat to peace, security and the sovereignty of states.

We resolutely condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and emphasise that counteraction to international terrorism and antiterrorist cooperation should be carried out with strict conformity to the goals and principles of the UN Charter and the generally recognised standards of international law with the central coordinating role of the United Nations and the Security Council.

We call on all states to implement in their entirety the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council and the provisions of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Relative to the tasks involved in effective counteraction to international terrorism, and based on the rule of law, we reiterate that it is inadmissible to violate the principles of sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of states and of non-interference in their internal affairs, and that it is absolutely unacceptable to use terrorist and extremist groups to further political and geopolitical objectives.

We note the increase in threats to security in the world, threats linked to an increased activity of terrorist organisations, something that leads to greater tensions in the space within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

We reaffirm our common commitment to fighting various organisations and groups recognised as terrorist and extremist in the territory of any SCO member state.

We note the importance of stronger of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and call on the international community to unite within the framework of a broad international antiterrorist coalition to oppose global terrorism, whose activity leads to destabilisation and increased tensions in states and entire regions, including in the SCO space.

We support the holding of high-level International Meetings on Syria within the framework of the Astana Process, which is an important supplement to the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, and encourage the international community's broad involvement. We hope that the agreements reached as part of the Astana Process will provide a positive impetus to a UN-sponsored political settlement of the Syrian crisis within the framework of the Geneva Process under UN Security Resolution 2254 of 2015.

We stress the need for collective measures to counteract the dissemination of the ideology of terrorism and extremism, including the prevention and curtailment of terrorist and extremist propaganda, incitement to terrorism and extremism, as well as recruitment, including recruitment via the internet. It is also important to implement coordinated measures with regard to individuals returning to SCO member states after having participated in international terrorist organisation operations as foreign terrorist militants.

We believe that it is unacceptable to allow public justification of terrorism with the aim of incitement to committing a terrorist attack or attacks, including by means of statements made by politicians or officials, and we call for increased international cooperation in this respect. We support the Russian Federation-proposed UN Security Council draft resolution on combating the dissemination of the terrorist ideology, which expands on the provisions of relevant UN Security Council Resolution 1624 of 2005.

We declare that the terrorist attacks committed by individuals or groups associating themselves with a certain religion or convictions can never serve as justification of intolerance towards persons for reason of their religious affiliation.

We believe it is unacceptable to identify terrorism with any religion and resolutely condemn all manifestations of intolerance, discrimination, or violence with regard to Christians, Muslims or representatives of other faiths.

Recognising that it is the individual countries and their security services that play the determining role in counteracting terrorism and extremism and in any international cooperation in these areas, we are confident that to effectively rebuff terrorist and extremist threats and to strengthen civil immunity to radical ideas, it is necessary to supplement state efforts with the potential of public organisations, the media, religious communities, and educational and research institutions in the SCO member states.

We are confident that the fight against terrorism cannot be effective unless we reliably cut channels for its funding, as required by the relevant resolutions approved by the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In the context of implementing UN Security Council resolutions 2199 and 2253, we call for immediate cooperation in identifying physical persons and legal entities involved in economic ties with terrorist organisations in order to cut related criminal activities.

We believe that the maintenance of stability in the SCO member states will be promoted by the further development of cooperation within the SCO Regional Anti- Terrorist Structure and expansion of practical interaction between states on issues related to fighting terrorism both at the political level and at the level of secret services and relevant ministries and agencies.

We confirm our shared resolve to promote interaction within other multilateral formats and bilaterally in the interests of effective counteraction to international terrorism.

Astana, 9 June 2017