Security Mechanisms of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

Abstract

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has adopted a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorism in the region. The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent institutional arrangement to enhance coordination and cooperation of special services of the SCO member states to fight terrorism. Unlike the United States and NATO, whose perception on security remain confined only to terrorism and ‘terror-sponsored states’, the SCO has broadened the definition of security. The approaches of SCO member states to combating terrorism are based on multilateral and international cooperation, rather than unilateralism.