(5 years, 6 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sajid Javid)
The informal G6 group of Interior Ministers held its most recent meeting in Lyon on 8 and 9 October 2017. Representatives from the USA, Morocco and the European Commission also attended the meeting.
The summit was chaired by the French Prime Minister and Interim Interior Minister, Édouard Philippe. I represented the United Kingdom. The other participating States were represented by Dr Joachim Brudzinski (Minister of the Interior, Poland), Dr Stephan Mayer (State Secretary, Germany), Matteo Salvini (Minister of the Interior, Italy) and Fernando Grande-Marlaska (Minister of the Interior, Spain).
Morocco was represented by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit. The European Commission was represented by Dimitris Avramopoulos (Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship) and Sir Julian King (Commissioner for the Security Union). The United States was represented by Jeff Sessions (Attorney General USA) and Claire Grady (acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security). Gilles de Kerchove, the EU’s counter-terrorism co-ordinator, also attended.
The G6 commenced with a working dinner focused on managing illegal migration flows. During the discussion I promoted the UK’s efforts to tackle people smuggling and human trafficking, and highlighted the UK’s work upstream and our commitment to work with EU partners on this after we leave the EU. I also stressed the importance of recognising that organised crime is a key threat we need to address.
The second plenary session was on combatting the threat of returning foreign terrorist fighters. During this session I referred to the UK’s cross-governmental approach to managing returnees and the need for an end-to-end holistic approach to the issue.
The third session was a working lunch which focused on security co-operation with Sahel countries. During this session I highlighted the UK’s commitment to the region and discussed our support on security and stabilisation. I also encouraged partners to share information to develop shared understanding of local issues and highlighted the problem of the use of kidnap for ransom as a source of terrorist funding.
The final session considered terrorist use of the internet. I highlighted the fact that the UK is leading the way on preventing terrorist use of the internet, encouraged the G6 to support the UK’s strategic approach of engaging directly with content service providers and sought their support for action to combat child sexual exploitation online.
The next G6 will take place in Germany in 2019.
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