At European Union level, member states have agreed on a minimum definition in the EU Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism. This definition sets out a list of criminal acts, which must be considered as terrorist acts for the purposes of international co-operation between EU member states if they have any of the following objectives: • to seriously intimidate a population; or • to unduly compel a government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act; or • to seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental structures of a country or an international organization.21 While the Framework Decision seeks to harmonize a minimum threshold for offences to be classified as terrorist offences, it does not prevent EU member states from having a more extensive definition of terrorism in their national laws. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that it is “concerned at the extremely vague and broad definitions of terrorism in national legislation. On several occasions it has noted that ‘either per se or in their application, (these definitions) bring within their fold the innocent and the suspect alike and thereby increase the risk of arbitrary detention, disproportionately reducing the level of guarantees enjoyed by ordinary persons in normal circumstances.’”22 The problem of vague definitions of terrorism is exacerbated in national legislation referring to the extremely vague notion of “extremism”. Conditions conducive to terrorism and terrorism’s root causes The OSCE Action Plan on Combating Terrorism states that: No circumstance or cause can justify acts of terrorism. At the same time, there are various social, economic, political and other factors, including violent separatism and extremism, which engender conditions in which terrorist organizations are able to recruit and win support. The OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security provides comparative advantages in combating terrorism by identifying and addressing these factors through all relevant OSCE instruments and structures.23 And, the OSCE Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism points out that OSCE participating States: Are convinced of the need to address conditions that may foster and sustain terrorism, in particular by fully respecting democracy and the rule of law, by allowing all citizens to participate fully in political life, by preventing discrimination and encouraging intercultural and inter-religious dialogue in their societies, by engaging civil society in finding common po- 21 EU Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on combating terrorism, (2002/475/JHA), OJ L 164, 22/06/2002, Art. 1(1). 22 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to the UN Commission on Human Rights, doc. E/CN.4/2004/3, 15 December 2003, para. 64. 23 Bucharest Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism, para. 9, annexed to 2001 Bucharest Ministerial Council Decision No. 1, Combating terrorism, Document of the Ninth Meeting of the Ministerial Council (2001 Bucharest Document). Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights 25