What it Takes to Safeguard Civic Space While Countering the Financing of Terrorism
Measures to counter the financing of terrorism (CFT) can constrain civic space and nonprofit operations. Lingering misperceptions of the nonprofit sector as higher risk for terrorism financing delay and disrupt banking channels that jeopardizes civil society and humanitarian operations. Governments have abused CFT measures to target human rights defenders, advocacy groups, and political dissidents.
In recognition of this issue, the Global Center launched a three-year initiative to advance CFT policies and practices that safeguard civic space, human rights, and financial access for NPOs. The initiative is informed by the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum Good Practice Memorandum on Ensuring the Implementation of Countering the Financing of Terrorism while Safeguarding Civic Space, co-led by the Netherlands, Morocco, and the United Nations and implemented by the Global Center.
With support from the Netherlands, the Global Center provided training, networking opportunities, and pilot funding to ten civil society partners in East and West Africa. Partners led efforts that strengthened collaboration between NPOs and governments on CFT measures and built the capacity of nonprofits to mitigate terrorism financing risks. This report highlights impact stories from each program and compiles partners’ reflections on key roadblocks and factors of success. These reflections contribute to the growing dialogue on how to ensure CFT measures do not restrict civic space.
In 2023, the Global Center on Cooperative Security and Rights & Security International consulted with nearly 200 peacebuilding and P/CVE implementers, human rights defenders, activists, lawyers, journalists, researchers, community leaders, and scholar-practitioners from around the world, assisted by an advisory committee of 15 diverse civil society representatives.
We found an overwhelming consensus that the UN is failing to meaningfully engage with, promote, and protect civil society in the context of the world body’s counterterrorism efforts, and that there is common desire to see the UN correct this course.
Research Questions
Understanding and Relevance Do civil society actors understand which UN entities are involved in counter-terrorism and P/CVE? Do they view those UN entities as relevant to the human rights issues that civil society confront and are addressing day-to-day?
Perceived Value and Benefits Do civil society groups in various regions see value in engaging with the UN on these issues? What are the perceived benefits of engaging with the UN?
Concerns & Preconditions If civil society groups and activists are hesitant about engaging with the UN on these issues, what are their concerns? What are the necessary preconditions for greater engagement?
Our research process was designed to mirror the engagement practices recommended in the report, grounded in transparency, accountability, and reciprocity – with multiple avenues for civil society partners to engage, participate in decision-making, and impact the project results:
• Advisory Committee: A geographically- and gender- diverse advisory committee of 15 civil society representatives selected from a pool of 121 applicants supported the project team in making decisions around the design and implementation of consultations and aided in our analysis.
• Landscape Assessments: For each in-person regional consultation we also secured local experts to produce landscape assessments of civil society and counterterrorism issues in the region, and translated into local languages as needed, to inform our research and discussions.
• Consultations: Following each of our 10 consultations, we developed and translated as needed detailed reports capturing the discussions and solicited feedback from participants to ensure its accurately reflected the proceedings.
• Online survey: As our consultations were not accessible to many civil society groups, the project team developed a mutli-lingual global survey to elicit the experiences of individuals and organizations that were unable or unwilling to participate in the in-person and virtual discussions.
Harouna Abdoulaye, COPAVE Beth Alexion, Saferworld; CSO Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ali Altiok, United Network of Young Peacebuilders Miguel de la Vega, Unidosc Hussein Khaled, Haki Africa Mira Kusumarini, Empatiku Foundation Sarah Le Mesurier, International Commission of Jurists Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, University of Minnesota Law School
Victoria Ohaeri, Spaces for Change Cholpon Orozobekova, Bulan Institute Inès Osman, MENA Rights Group Mahi Ramakrishnan, Beyond Borders Malaysia Arjun Sethi, Georgetown University Law Center Ashleigh Subramanian-Montgomery, Charity & Security Network Marco Velasquez Ruiz, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogota
Findings
Existing entry points for engagement with the UN’s counterterrorism architecture are extremely limited, and inaccessible to most CSOs – particularly those most impacted by conflict and abusive counterterrorism measures.
Civil society groups clearly see benefits that could accrue from more meaningful engagement with the UN on counterterrorism and P/CVE efforts.
Substantial barriers and risks are impeding meaningful engagement with civil society, and their willingness to engage in the Global South.
Pre-conditions for civil society engagement In our synthesis, we identify seven critical preconditions around which participant perspectives coalesced for greater civil society engagement with the UN’s counterterrorism efforts:
1. More robust and effective measures to protect civil society from repression ostensibly justified under counterterrorism and P/CVE measures, as well as from reprisals and intimidation before, during, and after engagement.
2. Oversight and accountability practices that ensure counterterrorism and P/CVE norms, guidance, and programs adhere to—and demand Member State compliance with—human rights standards.
3. Clarity about existing avenues, conditions, and procedures for engagement of CSOs within its counterterrorism architecture—and expand them.
4. Explain clearly at the outset what impact civil society participants can expect to have as a result of their engagement and ensure that civil society input consistently has a demonstrable, substantive impact.
5. Adopt more robust accessibility practices for information on counterterrorism policies and programs.
6. Materially compensate and otherwise support, civil society groups.
7. The UN counterterrorism architecture must prioritize engagement with civil society at grassroots and local levels.
These preconditions cannot be overcome by any UN entity overnight, and progress demands buy-in and trust from civil society, as well as substantial political support and investments by Member States.
Steps toward more meaningful CSO-UN engagement in the short term can foster incremental progress toward addressing these preconditions and increase engagement significantly over time.
The report offers a framework and recommendations for the UN and its Member States to meaningfully engage civil society while incrementally addressing the preconditions for engagement.
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Final Report
Independent Civil Society–UN Counterterrorism Engagement: A Scoping Report
Author: Matthew Schwartz, Sarah St. Vincent, Tufyal Choudhury, Damarie Kalonzo, and Franziska Praxl-Tabuchi
The Scoping Study was informed by a series of regionally focused research products prepared by local civil society experts. These reports were later finalized and prepared for publication with the generous support of the Government of Canada.
Exploring Eastern Africa’s Landscape: A Scoping Study on an Independent Civil Society-UN Counter-Terrorism Engagement Mechanism Author: Karanja Muraya (Africa Center for Engendered Security), African Journal of Empirical Research 4, no 2 (2023) Date: Dec 2023
Iniciativas para prevenir el uso indebido de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro en América Latina Author: Gabriela Pellón (Independent Consultant) and Miguel de la Vega (Unidosc) Date: January 2024
Redefining civil society’s role in the UN counter-terrorism architecture
Landscape assessment: Middle East and North Africa Author: MENA Rights Group Date: May 2024
UN & Multilateral Efforts and Civil Society Engagement on Counterterrorism and Preventing and/or Countering Violent Extremism in South-East Asia: A Landscape Assessment Author: Marc Batac (Independent Consultant) and Tuan Nguyen-M (Build Program Manager, Initiatives for International Dialogue) Date: May 2024
Mécanisme d’engagement indépendant entre la société civile et les Nations Unis en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme: Rapport d’état des lieux Afrique de l’Ouest Author: Abdoulaye Diallo (Independent Consultant) and Mouhamadou Lamine Bara Lo (Independent Consultant) Date: January 2024
In support of wider civil society efforts to demand more meaningful influence on and engagement with UN counterterrorism efforts, this report presents the results of a year-long scoping study undertaken by the Global Center and Rights & Security International with the support of a committee of 15 civil society advisors. Based the input of more than 170 civil society representatives from more than 50 countries around the world, the findings and recommendations presented in this report explain the hesitation of many groups worldwide to engage with the United Nations on counterterrorism-related issues, the range of barriers they face, and their aspirations for the UN role in promoting and protecting civil society and civic space. The report highlights key preconditions for greater civil society engagement with UN entities regarding these topics and offers a framework to strengthen the UN’s engagement with civil society embodying specific attributes of meaningful engagement across a range of mutually reinforcing modalities of engagement. The report concludes with several practical entry points for addressing the preconditions for engagement, including specific recommendations to the UN and its Member States.
A launch page the provides details about the scoping report process can be found here.
Developed with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the report examines regional efforts to protect non-profit organizations (NPOs) from terrorism financing abuse. It includes a heat map of strengths and weaknesses in implementing international standards from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and offers reflections on ensuring measures do not disrupt or discourage NPO activity.
The report notes weak compliance with FATF’s Recommendation 8 on NPOs and provides further detail on what specific elements of Recommendation 8 are challenging for APG members, finding room to improve on the conduct of inclusive and evidence-based risk assessments of potential NPO abuse for terrorism financing and to strengthen and sustain outreach and engagement between government and NPOs.
The report also analyzes how compliance is being evaluated across the region, with its findings used to inform amendment of the FATF standards. It finds areas of misunderstanding or misinterpretation related to risk-based supervision for NPOs and notes limited consideration of how CFT measures may disrupt or discourage legitimate NPO activities.
This report is the sixth in the Global Center’s “Blue Sky” series which explores how the UN’s comparative advantages can be leveraged to improve the balanced implementation of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The report opens with a broad overview of changes in the security landscape and reflections on UN counterterrorism and preventing violent extremism responses. Chapter two highlights key developments in the UN ecosystem since the seventh review of the Strategy, providing context and background to support member states, UN entities, and other stakeholders in situating core issues in the eighth review. Chapter three then assesses the key architecture, namely the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact, and stresses the need for improvements in integrating the rule of law, human rights, and gender commitments, engagement with diverse civil society, and monitoring and evaluation. The report concludes with recommendations on leveraging the Strategy to realize the UN’s comparative advantage on counterterrorism and PVE issues.
The recommendations focus on (1) optimizing the UN counterterrorism architecture; (2) resource mobilization; (3) integrating the rule of law, human rights, and gender commitments; (4) meaningful engagement with diverse civil society; and (5) measuring Strategy implementation.
Summary findings and key recommendations were presented during a launch event held in 31 May 2023, in the lead up to the UN Counter-Terrorism Week and the negotiations of the eighth Strategy review resolution. Support for this project, including the consultations, high-level events, and report, was generously provided by the governments of the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland and with broader support of our work by the government of Sweden.
The Toolkit is based on the premise that mainstreaming gender is about ensuring inclusive, equitable participation and leadership of people of diverse gender and intersecting identities, while also recognizing the diversity within a group of individuals that identifies similarly. It is about accounting for the experiences, needs, and challenges of individuals and recognizing gender differences and inequalities, as well as intersecting factors, including socioeconomic, age, disability, ethnic, and cultural identities.
The threat of violent extremism, porous borders and vast coastlines, and interconnectivity by land, sea, and air has caused Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to adopt strong governmental approaches to tackling violent extremism and terrorism within their jurisdictions. This report explores practical examples of how governments and civil society have cooperated across Southeast Asia to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals associated with violent extremism, including prisoners, detainees, and returnees. The case studies featured are examples of how governments and civil society have approached rehabilitation and reintegration across the five countries of focus, but are not intended as an assessment of the success or propriety of the actions taken nor as an embrace of the approach. Rather, they are meant to highlight discrete elements that may be informative as stakeholders consider ways to advance cooperation between governments and civil society.
Despite a growing volume of research on foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), there remains limited publicly available research on the financial footprints of FTFs and the facilitation networks that support them. This typology report, produced in partnership between the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering and the Global Center, examines what is known and unknown regarding the financial profiles of FTFs connected to Southeast Asia and explores the collection and utilization of FTF-related financial intelligence in the region. Persistent challenges in detecting FTF financial patterns underscore the critical importance of partnership between law enforcement, intelligence agencies, border control, and financial intelligence units.
A growing number of countries want to improve their assessment of violent extremism in prisons. This involves understanding whether prisoners are likely to commit future violent extremist offenses and how this can be prevented. It also involves identifying and managing prisoners vulnerable to radicalization and recruitment to violent extremism. Establishing frameworks to assess violent extremism poses challenges that may not be apparent to prison services. This brief provides a critical review of the choices available to prison services in their use of assessment, examining the processes of conceptualizing, developing, implementing, and evaluating these frameworks. It aims to ensure that these are appropriate, rights compliant, and sustainable in prisons.
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.
