Terrorism has always been a battle of ideas, reflecting a desire for violent and immediate political transformation. The technologies available in a globalized world today, however, have expanded the theater of conflict into a broader swath of spaces—governed, less governed, virtual—than ever. Groups such as al-Qaida have articulated a clear mission statement and excelled at strategic communication, crafting messages based on audience perceptions and including actions as well as words.
This report presents a qualitative analysis of how strategic communication principles can strengthen international efforts to address terrorism and violent extremism. The report examines the evolution of the challenge and draws on discussions with officials, diplomats, and experts to offer a series of recommendations for enhancing strategic communications on counterterrorism. While this study focuses on the United Nations, the key principles and recommendations may also be applicable to governments and international organizations confronting this complex transnational threat.
Money laundering and terrorist financing pose an ongoing challenge for countries in the greater Horn of Africa and the international community as a whole. In addition to negatively affecting the integrity and stability of national financial systems, they also threaten national security and undermine economic development. The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Terrorist Financing Regime in Ethiopia: Second Assessment Report builds upon an assessment conducted in early 2012 for a baseline study on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) in East Africa. This second assessment report identifies key areas of progress, limitations and challenges to, and opportunities for the ongoing development of Ethiopia’s AML/CFT regime. It also outlines recommended entry points to further strengthen and expedite AML/CFT efforts in compliance with regional and international standards.
Combined with a history of violent conflict, the greater Horn of Africa subregion has offered an enabling environment for violent extremism for more than a half century. The Global Center and partners recently conducted a pilot demonstration project in coastal Kenya and Somaliland and produced this report, which offers insight into local perceptions of violent extremism and details an approach to countering the phenomenon based on key drivers identified by participating communities.
This report presents the findings of a pilot demonstration project conducted by the Global Center to assess community attitudes towards violent extremism and the impact of international prevention programming undertaken in Kenya and Somaliland. The report offers a series of recommendations on how relevant international actors can best contribute to context-sensitive CVE programming in partnership with local communities.
This short film was produced to capture local perspectives on the impact of violent extremism on their communities. Community activists, religious and civil society leaders, and local experts from Nairobi and Coast Province share their thoughts and suggest ways to overcome challenges in the Kenyan context. It can be viewed at: https://vimeo.com/56780867.
In the years following 9/11, threat assessments necessarily focused on the dangers posed by al-Qaida, its affiliates, and those inspired by its ideology. There are signs, however, that the threat today is more complex and diffuse, comprising extremists from all parts of the ideological spectrum who may act in small “self-starter” groups or, in some cases, as “lone wolves.” The paths to extremism are more varied than ever before, and as our understanding of contemporary patterns of radicalization has advanced, terrorism prevention initiatives have become more prevalent in the counterterrorism repertoire at the national and multilateral levels.
As many states have elaborated terrorism prevention strategies in recent years, they have begun to confront similar challenges. Among these is the challenge of program evaluation. Is the turn toward prevention an effective response to the diverse extremist threats that states face today? How can the effectiveness of prevention policies be measured? What approaches have states advanced in evaluating the impact of terrorism prevention initiatives? In responding to this challenge, can lessons be gleaned from efforts to evaluate programs in related policy domains? This report provides an initial discussion of these questions.
In March 2012, the Task Force on Legal Cooperation Against Terrorism in the IGAD Subregion explored innovative ways to rapidly scale up legal cooperation against terrorism and related transnational crime. This task force of eight senior officials from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) sought to identify challenges for IGAD member states in the effective implementation of the IGAD Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition Conventions and develop concrete recommendations on additional practical, concrete steps to strengthen legal cooperation against terrorism in the IGAD subregion.
This report presents the final observations and recommendations of that task force. It is based on consultations with delegations from IGAD and all IGAD member states and discussions with a number of external partners. To further understand the legislative dynamics of cross-border law enforcement cooperation, the task force met with senior Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Ugandan members of parliament. Institutional, legal, and operational issues were discussed with diplomatic, criminal justice, law enforcement, military, and intelligence officials. Over the course of its consultations, the task force generally focused on four main areas of discussion: mechanisms for internal cooperation, mechanisms for interstate cooperation; challenges to internal and external cooperation, and opportunities for subregional engagement.
This report examine issues of money laundering and terrorism financing in East Africa, which pose a significant threat to security and development in the subregion.
Both the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group have identified a number of states in the subregion as demonstrating weak implementation of international standards on anti–money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) issues. There is consequently a growing recognition that states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) stand to benefit in multiple ways from a more concerted effort to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. There is also, however, a chronic limitation of data and knowledge about the problems of money laundering and terrorism financing and about AML/CFT vulnerabilities, risks, and capacities in the subregion.
In this study, the IGAD Security Sector Program (ISSP) and CGCC set out to provide a more detailed and nuanced analysis of AML/CFT challenges and opportunities in the IGAD region. The study responds to repeated requests by the ISSP’s and CGCC’s partners in the subregion who sought assistance in obtaining baseline data about money laundering risks and AML capacity in the region and guidance on the data’s potential use for CFT efforts. Experts from the East African and Horn of Africa subregion coordinated and conducted the project and, where appropriate, drew on outside expertise. The study was prepared by independent researchers with support and guidance from the ISSP and CGCC and an informal advisory group of interested officials, academics, and business professionals from the subregion.
Informal money transfer services offer a resilient source of income for some 40 percent of Somali households that lack other meaningful sources of income, let alone access to basic financial services. With $1.0–1.5 billion being remitted from the diaspora each year, remittances serve as a vital lifeline to Somali communities. Yet growing concern over terrorist and criminal exploitation of poorly regulated remittance flows—as demonstrated by Barclays decision to discontinue the accounts of money transfer companies by the end of September 2013—threatens to place the livelihoods of millions of already vulnerable Somalis in jeopardy. Capitalizing on Trust explores the complex economic, social, and political impacts of Somali remittances and offers ideas for improving their regulation, including combating money laundering and countering terrorism financing, and harnessing the power of remittances to help rebuild Somalia.
This report provides concrete suggestions for strengthening international counterterrorism efforts over the next decade, including three specific, costed options for a single UN counterterrorism coordinator. The report details 22 recommendations aimed at helping the United Nations to better exploit its comparative advantages in countering terrorism and to enhance the productivity of its partnerships with other counterterrorism actors, including states, regional intergovernmental bodies, nongovernment experts, and civil society.
Based on research, interviews, and consultations with counterterrorism officials and experts from around the world, the report presents recommendations for reshaping UN counterterrorism efforts by:
1. Creating a broader movement against terrorism, involving not only states but also a range of other actors;
2. Strengthening engagement in the field and at UN headquarters with human rights experts and civil society;
3. Placing greater emphasis on measuring its own performance; and
4. Enacting one of three options for architectural adjustments to streamline UN counterterrorism efforts and improve monitoring, political analysis, and capacity building (a UN Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, or an Under Secretary-General for Transnational Threats).
To help inform the UN General Assembly’s review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Security Council’s comprehensive consideration of the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), this report details an independent strategic assessment of UN counterterrorism efforts over the two years since the Strategy and CTED were last reviewed. The report is based on consultations with dozens of member state officials, UN officials, civil society representatives, and academic experts, as well as a two-day retreat for key stakeholders. It argues that the UN system should use the next year to visibly push the United Nations’ counterterrorism program out beyond UN headquarters in New York and Vienna and into the field, emphasize the preventive and holistic aspects of the United Nations’ vision of counterterrorism, provide a fresh start on human rights, and deepen UN partnerships with other stakeholders. It includes 25 recommendations for revitalizing the UN counterterrorism program leading up to the 10-year anniversaries of 9/11 and the adoption of Resolution 1373 and the five-year anniversary of the adoption of the Strategy.
This report makes the case for West African states and partners to develop counterterrorism capacities and cooperation in the subregion, using the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy as their point of departure and working closely with and through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The report is based on recommendations that emerged from a large stakeholder meeting cohosted with the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja and a series of smaller consultations in Brussels and New York. The goal of these meetings was to identify and prioritize the unmet counterterrorism and related capacity needs of countries in West Africa across the four pillars of the Strategy. The report concludes with a set of action-oriented recommendations that outline steps the ECOWAS Commission, ECOWAS member states, and their partners could take to develop a subregional counterterrorism framework and mechanism. It includes other recommendations for strengthening counterterrorism cooperation in West Africa and between the subregion and external partners.
Available in French.
