Continuity Amid Change: The 2021 Mandate Renewal of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate

This policy brief examines the 2021 renewal of the mandate of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and seven key issues Security Council members must grapple with as part of the renewal: (1) assessments, (2) facilitation of technical assistance, (3) research and analysis, (4) partnerships, (5) mandate expansion, (6) human rights, and (7) monitoring and evaluation.

To support Security Council members in their reconsideration of CTED’s mandate, the Global Center and the International Peace Institute undertook an extensive research and consultation process. A broad range of stakeholders were consulted, including current CTC members and other UN member states, UN representatives, and civil society actors. Information was gathered through a widely distributed survey, bilateral interviews, three focus-group discussions, and two workshops held on 28 July and 3 November 2021. Along with providing analysis of the implementation of CTED’s mandate, the intention was to provide an informal Track II setting for member states and other stakeholders to engage on priorities for the mandate renewal and to solicit input into the formal negotiation process from underrepresented parties, including civil society. This brief outlines findings and recommendations for the renewal of CTED’s mandate, building on this research and consultation process.

This year’s 76th Session of the UN General Assembly aligned with the twenty-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, giving heightened significance to the annual multilateral discussions. The Global Center team produced a range of commentaries, resources, and analyses that speak to counterterrorism policy over the last two decades and prospective future of counterterrorism.

In an article in The Hill, Executive Director Eelco Kessels reflects on the twenty years since September 11th to underscore the urgency of restoring human rights and centering civil society in global security efforts.

In a Just Security article, Global Center staff reflect on the seventh review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and progress on issues within the United Nations since 2001. And in an IPI Global Observatory article, Legal Analyst Annabelle Bonnefont highlights the need for more meaningful engagement with civil society by the UN as part of its counterterrorism efforts.

Executive Director Kessels delivered remarks as part of the Special meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee commemorating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and the establishment of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Finally, the Global Center spotlighted these pieces, additional resources, and reflections from several Advisory Council members on our social media channels using #20YearsofCT.

The 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks compels the international community to take stock of the past two decades of counterterrorism policy and ask: Have these efforts made us safer, and at what cost?

This opinion piece in The Hill penned by executive director Eelco Kessels reflects on the twenty years since September 11th to underscore the urgency of restoring human rights and centering civil society in global security efforts.

The threat of terrorism today is more diverse, diffuse, and decentralized than ever before. At the same time, the growth of counterterrorism has spurned the unraveling of hard-won human rights protections and democratic norms and the shrinking of civic space. There is no evidence indicating that these restrictions reduce terrorist attacks; quite the opposite, they may in fact help galvanize radicalization and recruitment.

Twenty years after 9/11, the upcoming 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September is sure to be a time for reflection on UN and global efforts to counter terrorism and prevent the spread of violent extremism. However, insights for the upcoming discussions can already be gleaned from the recent negotiations and seventh review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The seventh review resolution, adopted by the General Assembly on June 30, shows both the progress that has been made since 2001 and reveals the many challenges that still lay ahead. In this Just Security article, Eelco Kessels and Melissa Lefas argue that while the adoption of the seventh review resolution demonstrates a commitment to consensus, a closer inspection reveals significant cracks in the global approach.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are often more knowledgeable, experienced, and trusted by local communities than governments, and their contributions have been well documented across various aspects of counterterrorism and prevention. As part of a series on the role of the UN system in preventing violent extremism and countering terrorism by the International Peace Institute’s Global Observatory, this article explores the UN’s engagement with civil society and the need for more meaningful and beneficial interactions with CSOs.

The Global Center hosted a high-level event inviting civil society representatives to share reflections on the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on the Activities of the United Nations system in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the seventh review of the Strategy. The event served as a formal opportunity for member state and UN representatives to hear directly from a wide range of civil society actors as part of the review process and complimented the informal, member states-only briefing organized by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) held on Friday the 5th of March.  

The event was opened by the Co-facilitators of the seventh review of the Strategy, their Excellencies the Permanent Representatives of Oman and Spain, Ambassadors Mohamed Al-Hassan and Agustín Santos Maraver in which they welcomed the initiative and highlighted the role of civil society in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism, and the importance of collaborating with civil society.

The panel of civil society discussants consisted of Ms. Sarah Cliffe, Executive Director of the New York University Center on International Cooperation; Ms. Mallika Iyer, Asia Programs Coordinator and Humanitarian Action Specialist of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders; Ms. Ornella Moderan, Head of Sahel Programme of the Institute for Security Studies; and Mr. Mandeep Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer of CIVICUS. Discussants spoke on a range of topics, including the Secretary-General’s Prevention Agenda, successful approaches to prevention in complex security environments, the need to account for the impact of counterterrorism measures on humanitarian efforts, the need to ensure evidence-based policy and program development which mainstreams human rights and gender consideration, and ways in which member states and the UN can better safeguard civic space while countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism. Also, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin offered her response to the discussants.

Interventions from the floor were made by a diverse set of civil society organizations representing diverse geographic regions and thematic priorities in the Strategy review. Final reflections were offered by Mr. Raffi Gregorian, Deputy Under-Secretary General and Director of the UNOCT, H.E. Silvio Gonzato, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the United Nations and member state representatives.

For more information on the Global Center’s events, including its roundtable series, please contact Ms. Franziska Praxl at fpraxl@globalcenter.org.

This report, the fifth in the “Blue Sky” series, explores how the UN’s comparative advantage can be leveraged to improve the policy development, interagency coordination, delivery, and impact of counterterrorism and preventing violent extremism efforts in support of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It first observes the growth of the Strategy and UN counterterrorism efforts in response to the evolving security landscape, resulting in a sprawling institutional architecture and array of programming that require considerable focus to coordinate and lead. Second, the report places counterterrorism and preventing violent extremism efforts within broader UN reforms to advance a prevention-forward approach that creates opportunities for greater integration across the UN’s pillars of human rights, peace and security, and development. Third, it assesses efforts to implement the Strategy at the global, institutional, and programmatic levels in a manner that systematically accounts for human rights and promotes transparency and accountability.

The recommendations focus on (1) calibrating the UN counterterrorism architecture; (2) situating UN counterterrorism efforts within the prevention framework; (3) engaging and supporting civil society; (4) mainstreaming human rights; and (5) assessing the Strategy’s implementation.

Summary findings and key recommendations were presented during a launch event held in July 2020, in the lead up to the Virtual UN Counter-Terrorism Week. Support for this project, including the consultations, high-level events, and report, was generously provided by the governments of the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.

Read the Report

 

Read the Summary

 

Threats to human rights and security triggered by artificial intelligence (AI) and data capture technologies will require peacebuilding and violence prevention actors to bridge the gap between early warning and response and anticipate new challenges. Conflict prevention is rapidly becoming an element of UN peacekeeper mandates in which technological and data governance will have powerful and unprecedented implications. UN actors need to integrate emerging technologies to digitize, share, and secure the information they collect from open sources, human informants, and data capture technologies. They also need to monitor how armed nonstate actors evolve and blend into civilian environments, collude with transnational criminal networks, and adapt their attack strategies to new domains, including cyberspace. Experts must scrutinize how online hate speech and incitements to violence contaminate the lifeblood of social media and private messaging applications in countries where ethnic and socioeconomic tensions prevail.

In this policy brief, Eleonore Pauwels examines how AI and data capture technologies can be positively harnessed and potentially misused, as the new paradigm of predictive behavioral analysis and population data capture is increasingly being presented as a solution to challenges in humanitarian action, conflict prevention, and counterterrorism. The brief advances recommendations for ensuring a do-no-harm approach to deploying these technologies in the field.

Over the course of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Global Center hosted and participated in numerous events and functions aimed at advancing effective policy and practice around countering violent extremism, criminal justice and rule of law, and financial integrity and inclusion.

As part of its roundtable series, the Global Center hosted its eighth virtual meeting on “The Future of Multilateralism: Opportunities and Challenges in Counterterrorism Efforts,” to examine both opportunities and challenges in multilateral counterterrorism efforts. Welcoming remarks were provided by Eelco Kessels, Executive Director of the Global Center. Speakers included Eric Rosand, Director of the Prevention Project: Organizing Against Violent Extremism; Laila Bokhari, former Deputy-Minister with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former State Secretary at the Office of the Norwegian Prime Minister; Amina Rasul, Philippines Representative, ASEAN Women for Peace Registry, and Amr Magdi, Middle East And North Africa Researcher, Human Rights Watch. During the discussion, and following the panelists’ remarks, participants addressed central themes of multilateral cooperation, recognizing the importance of a principled counterterrorism approach and highlighting the challenges ahead in strengthening these efforts. Some of the issues raised during the discussion included the lack of government-civil society cooperation and the need to protect human rights and civic space.

Interventions were provided by Assistant Secretary-General Michele Coninsx, Executive Director, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate; Aougui Niandou, Deputy Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations;  Rafi Shah, Chief of Policy, Knowledge Management and Coordination Branch, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism; Rebecca Skellett, Head, Strong Cities Network; Francisco Fontan, Head of Counter-Terrorism Division, European External Action Service, and Georgia Holmer, Head of Unit, Action against Terrorism, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The Global Center also hosted a virtual event on (Counter-)Terrorism, Economic Stability, and the Private Sector, through which it sought to break down traditional silos between the private sector and the fields of terrorism and counterterrorism. Welcoming remarks were provided by Tom Firestone, a Partner at Baker McKenzie, a longstanding partner of the Global Center’s and co-host of the event. Panelists included Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow-Foreign Policy, Brookings; John Frank, Vice President, UN Affairs, Microsoft Corporation; Niall Brennan, VP, Global Head of Strategic Security Partnerships & Engagement, SAP Global Security; Mariko Silver, President and CEO, Henry Luce Foundation; and moderator Howie Wachtel, Director of Global Sanctions Advisory and Strategy, PayPal and a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Center. The panelists spoke to the changing nature of conflict, including within the pandemic, and highlighted successful private-public partnerships and collaboration across sectors working to combat dynamic security threats.

As part of this event, the Global Center was excited to formally welcome two new members to the Global Center’s Board of Directors: Laila Bokhari, former State Deputy-Minister with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a State Secretary at the Office of the Norwegian Prime Minister; and David McGowan, Vice President of Global Protection Services at Tiffany & Co. and the former President of the Board of Directors of the International Security Management Association.

For six weeks, the Global Center dedicated its social media engagement to the impacts of civil society in advancing positive change in counterterrorism and preventing and countering violent extremism efforts. Using the hashtag #CivilSocietyInclusion, the Global Center highlighted civil society impact within the context of multilateralism and the UN counterterrorism framework, including their role in rehabilitation and reintegration and the importance of empowering youth-focused civil society organizations in Kenya and Nigeria to counter violent extremism in their communities. As part of the engagements with youth-focused civil society organizations, the Global Center assembled a short video series on the different impacts and achievements of the overall project.

To watch the events and the short videos series, please visit the Global Center’s YouTube page.

Without meaningful civil society engagement, the UN system’s counterterrorism policy, coordination, technical assistance, and advocacy risk causing more harm than good. This article argues that the United Nations needs to take its commitments to civil society seriously and uphold its do-no-harm principles of engagement in the field, which would require transforming the way it works with civil society organizations and consults them as part of counterterrorism and preventing and countering violent extremism policy discussions and programmatic efforts.

Research for this article was conducted as part of the Global Center’s project assessing UN counterterrorism efforts ahead of member states’ biennial review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, funded by the governments of the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.