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G7 Security Ministers' Commitments Paper

Toronto, April 24, 2018

G7 countries continue to face complex challenges, ranging from terrorism and violent extremism to trafficking in persons. These issues threaten international peace and security and increase the vulnerability of our citizens, with disproportionate effects on women and girls.

Concerted action is required to address these issues. As such, we, the G7 Security Ministers and Members of the European Union, met to develop concrete approaches to strengthen security, protect our core democratic values, and work towards building a more peaceful and secure world.

We commit to working together to strengthen the fight against terrorism, address violent extremism, including its use of the internet, tackle threats to cyber security, and combat trafficking in persons.

Recognizing the importance of gender equality and women's empowerment, we worked closely with Canada's Gender Equality Advisory Council to help guide the integration of gender considerations throughout our commitments. We commit to ensuring approaches to these complex issues include meaningful participation of women in decision-making, and consider the impact on vulnerable populations as well as marginalized groups.

We reaffirm our commitment to fully implementing the Taormina Leaders' statement on the fight against terrorism and violent extremism and the Ischia joint communiqué, building on the Ise-Shima Action Plan.

We will also encourage the Roma-Lyon Group on Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism to:

Violent extremist and terrorist organizations continue to exploit the internet and social media in a variety of ways, including through the production and dissemination of content that incites violence and hatred, and which is used for recruitment, facilitation, training, and financing purposes. We recognize that this exploitation and use of the internet reflects poorly on industry, can damage companies' reputations, and can lead to economic loses.

We will combat the exploitation of the internet and social media by violent extremists and terrorists, particularly Daesh and al-Qaida, and right and left wing violent extremists, by reinforcing collaboration with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), the European Union (EU) Internet Forum, governments, researchers, academics and civil society. Building on the Ischia Joint Communiqué, we will:

The growth and evolution of cyber capabilities have been matched by an increased number of risks in cyberspace, including the use of cyber capabilities for criminal purposes and attacks to critical infrastructure. As a result, countries are facing challenges in the development of legal and operational tools to respond to cyber risks.

We will pursue a collective approach to increase stability and security in cyberspace, and work together to improve our systemic risk management and measures to address the challenges along the cyber security continuum, including cybercrime. To this end we will:

Women and girls account for the majority of trafficking victims worldwide. Trafficking in persons refers to a variety of types of exploitation including sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (as defined by the Trafficking in Persons Protocol).We need to ensure our response is gender-sensitive and grounded in respect for human rights. In addition, our approach must recognize that marginalized groups, including indigenous women and girls, persons with disabilities, and the LGBTQI community, and migrants are more vulnerable to being trafficked. To this end we will:

We will also encourage the Roma-Lyon Group on Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism to:

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Source: Official website of the 2018 G7 Canadian Presidency


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