In This Issue:
Events
Workshop on UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Awareness Raising in Africa: Building an African Civil Society Network to Support the Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
24-25 June 2009 | Mandela Rhodes Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
On 24-25 June 2009, the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and the Institute for Security Studies, with the support of the governments of Germany and The Netherlands, hosted a workshop in Cape Town titled: Building an African Civil Society Network to Support the Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Participants included representatives from civil society organizations from across Africa working on an array of issues related to implementation of the UN’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, as well as from the United Nations and the governments of Germany and South Africa. Participants agreed that the UN Strategy provides civil society a useful entry point to engage on counterterrorism-related issues and a unique opportunity to push for a recalibration of counterterrorism efforts to better reflect African perspectives and priorities. The meeting also provided the basis for the formulation of a network of civil society groups working on Strategy-related issues to help improve their contributions and facilitate interaction with the United Nations on the issue.
Click here to read the recommendations.
Click here to read the meeting summary.
Click here to read the background paper. |
The Role of Regional Organizations in Countering Terrorism: Lessons for the New U.S. Administration
12 June 2009 | Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, Washington, DC
The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation hosted a discussion on the role of regional organizations in countering terrorism with Raphael Perl, Head of the Action Against Terrorism Unit, Organization for Security and Co‐operation in Europe and Pablo Martinez, Deputy Secretary and Programs Coordinator, Inter‐American Committee Against Terrorism, Organization of American States. Center Co‐Director Alistair Millar moderated the discussion.
Click here to read a summary of the discussion.
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Countering Terrorism in South Asia: Building Capacities and Strengthening Multilateral Engagement
20 May 2009 | Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, Washington, DC
The event focused on the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation/International Peace Institute report, Countering Terrorism in South Asia: Strengthening Multilateral Engagement (May 2009), which explores ways to build counterterrorism capacities and strengthen counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia, with a particular focus on the role that the United Nations can play in that regard. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, delivered the keynote address. He was joined by Mike Smith, the Executive Director of the UN Security Council’s Counter‐Terrorism Committee's Executive Directorate and two of the report's co‐authors, Eric Rosand, Co‐Director of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, and Naureen Chowdhury Fink, Senior Program Officer at the International Peace Institute. The discussion was moderated by Center Co‐Director Alistair Millar.
Click here to read a summary of the discussion.
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Upcoming Events
Conference on Building Stronger Partnerships to Prevent Terrorism
8 October 2009 | Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, Washington, DC
On 8 October 2009, the Center will host a conference in Washington, DC on “Building Stronger Partnerships to Prevent Terrorism.” The goal will be to focus attention on cooperative non-military counterterrorism efforts and steps the United States can take to strengthen those efforts. Participants in the full-day event will include current senior U.S. and foreign government officials, senior representatives from the United Nations and regional organizations, academic and other non-governmental experts, and distinguished members of the Center’s international advisory council. The conference will focus on the comparative advantages of multilateral actors – in particular, international and regional bodies – in general and specifically as they relate to efforts to strengthen cooperation in two of the world’s terrorism “hot-spots,” South Asia and the Horn of Africa. The conference is designed to elicit concrete recommendations aimed at enhancing U.S. multilateral counterterrorism engagement, as well as making these international and regional actors more effective.
Click here to read the draft agenda.
For more information, please contact Jason Ipe at jipe@globalct.org.
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Recent Publications
Policy Brief - The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Terrorism Prevention Branch: Strengths and Challenges Ahead
July 2009 - By Eric Rosand
In the third in a series of policy briefs from the Center and collaborating experts, Center Co-Director Eric Rosand examines the efforts of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC’s) Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), which provides various forms of counterterrorism-related assistance to countries to help them join and implement the various UN treaties dealing with different types of terrorism and strengthen the capacity of their national criminal justice systems to address the threat.
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Policy Brief - The G8’s Counterterrorism Action Group
May 2009 – By Eric Rosand
This policy brief argues that while the G8's CTAG has performed unevenly and largely failed to meet the goals set out for it, the mechanism still offers the best opportunity currently available for enhanced coordination of counterterrorism assistance. The piece outlines a series of possible options for maximizing CTAG’s effectiveness including delinking CTAG from the Lyon-Roma Anti-Crime and Counterterrorism Group or even the G8 as a whole; expanding its membership; and expanding the CTAG mandate beyond narrow security-related issues.
Project Launch
The Center is pleased to announce the launch of two separate projects aimed at promoting implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in North and West Africa. Those projects, which are sponsored by the Governments of The Netherlands and Denmark, respectively, will look at identifying concrete recommendations for enhancing counterterrorism cooperation within those subregions and between those subregions and external partners such as the United Nations.
Click here to read the North Africa project description.
Click here to read the West African project description.
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Advisory Council Updates
The Center proudly welcomes Brian Michael Jenkins as the newest member of the Center’s international advisory council. Mr. Jenkins, who joined the advisory council in May, is a Senior Advisor at the RAND Corporation. He has served on various high-profile national commissions on terrorism and as an advisor to the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, and other U.S. government agencies, as well as numerous private companies. He is the author of many books and reports on terrorism, including among others, Unconquerable Nation (2006) and Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (2008).
The Center is also pleased to announce that former advisory council member, Daniel Benjamin, was confirmed in May 2009 as the new U.S. Coordinator for Counterterrorism, with the rank and status of Ambassador at Large. Former Center advisory council member, Jean-Paul Laborde, was also recently appointed to head the United Nations’ Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force which oversees coordination and coherence in the counterterrorism efforts of the UN system. The Center benefited greatly from their guidance and support and wishes them well in their new positions.
Finally, the Center mourns the passing of Center advisory council member Professor Thomas Franck in late May. Professor Franck was an early supporter of the Center, a leader in the field of international law, and a friend. He will be sorely missed.
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Newsworthy
9 July 2009
"G8 Declaration on Counter Terrorism," G8 Summit 2009, L'Aquila, Italy
Read more.
15 June 2009
"Africa, United Nations Should Improve Strategies for Countering Terrorism, Experts Say at Addis Ababa Meeting," United Nations Press Release
Read more.
8 June 2009
"How African Civil Society Can Help Counter Terrorism," Daily Nation
Read more.
4 June 2009
"UN Radio Day: Senior Human Rights Officer with the Counter-Terrorism Committee," Talk Radio News
Listen to the interview.
26 May 2009
"Chairs of Security Council Subsidiary Bodies, in Briefing, Underscore Importance of Inter-panel Coordination, Regular Appraisal of Working Methods," United Nations Security Council Press Release
Read more.
22 May 2009
"Pakistan Advocates 'Comprehensive Approach' to Fight Terrorism," Associated Press of Pakistan
Read more.
23-24 April 2009
G8 Conference on "Destabilising Factors and Transnational Threats," Rome, Italy
Read remarks by Eric Rosand. |
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