DECLARATION STRENGTHENING HEMISPHERIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN CYBERSECURITY AND FIGHTING TERRORISM IN THE AMERICAS (Approved at the Fifth Plenary Session held on February 26, 2016) THE MEMBER STATES OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMITTEE AGAINST TERRORISM (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS), meeting at its sixteenth regular session, held in Washington, D.C., in the United States of America, on February 25 and 26, 2016: 1. REAFFIRMING the nature, principles, and purposes of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) and reiterating their strongest condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, regardless of its origins and manifestations, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the Organization of American States and of the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism, and with full respect for the sovereignty of states, the rule of law, and international law, including international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international refugee law; 2. RECOGNIZING that the threat of terrorism is exacerbated when connections exist between terrorism and illicit drug trafficking, cybercrime, illicit arms trafficking, money laundering, and other forms of transnational organized crime, and that such illicit activities may be used to support and finance terrorist activities; 3. REAFFIRMING all the declarations adopted at the sessions of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism and reconizing all the resolutions on terrorism adopted by the OAS General Assembly; 4. ALSO REAFFIRMING resolution AG/RES. 1939 (XXXIII-0/03), “Development of an InterAmerican Strategy to Combat Threats to Cybersecurity,” and reaffirming resolution AG/RES. 2004 (XXXIV-0/04), “Adoption of a Comprehensive Inter-American Strategy to Combat Threats to Cybersecurity: A Multidimensional and Multidisciplinary Approach to Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity”; 5. ENDORSING the international counter-terrorism framework adopted by the United Nations through the resolutions of the General Assembly and of the Security Council and in the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy; 6. EMPHASIZING the importance of the OAS Member States signing, ratifying, or acceding to, as the case may be, and implementing in an effective way the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism as well as the pertinent universal instruments, including the United Nations Conventions, pertinent Resolutions of the Security Council and Human Rights Council of the United Nations, and the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted by the General Assembly of said organization;