Establishment of International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Division

December 2001

1. On 12 December 2001 International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Division was established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Division was established in view of the fact that international efforts towards the prevention and elimination of terrorism under such international frameworks as the United Nations and G8 have become an urgent issue since the simultaneous terrorist attacks in the United States. As such, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeking to actively participate in these international efforts and strengthen its response to international cooperative operations against terrorism.
2. The International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Division will be dealing with the overall coordination of all activities relating to counter-terrorism policy, including policy planning for counter-terrorism, cooperation on counter-terrorism under the G8 and other international fora, and cooperation on international measures against terrorism in bilateral and multilateral context.
3. The International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Division falls under the supervision of the Policy Coordination Division of the Foreign Policy Bureau currently and comprises a staff of five persons working under a Director of the Division.
4. To date operations concerning counter-terrorism measures have been undertaken by the Division for the Prevention of Terrorism of the Consular and Migration Affairs Department, and this Division remains to be in change of operations pertaining to the protection of the lives, well-being and property of Japanese citizens in relation to incidents of terrorism overseas, and for work associated with the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.