Press release on the entry into force of the SCO Convention on Countering Extremism

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation  (SCO) Convention on Countering Extremism, signed in Astana on June 9, 2017, entered into force in Russia on October 12, 2019.

The convention has fixed fundamental provisions on the dangers of extremism as a breeding ground for terrorism, the leading role of the states and their competent bodies in countering extremism and terrorism, the need to observe international law and the UN Charter, primarily respect for the sovereignty and equality of states and non-interference in their domestic affairs, denunciation of the ideology and practice of extremism in all of its forms and manifestations, and prevention of public promotion or incitement of extremist actions.

The convention creates mechanisms for the cooperation of its participants in taking preventive actions and for joint efforts to counter extremism and render legal aid, and facilitates the correlation of the legislation of its signatories.

The convention is a trailblazer because, for the first time at international level, it suggested optimal standards of effective counter-extremism cooperation, dovetails and fixes the notion of extremism as a destructive phenomenon, and determines the definition and main forms of extremist activities that are subject to criminalisation.

The convention is universal and open for signing to states that are not SCO members.

We invite our foreign partners to study the document with a view to joining it and exchanging best practices in this area.