Expert Spotlight
Terrorism Prevention: Lessons Learned from the United Kingdom National Experience
With Richard Evans
International counterterrorism efforts focus increasingly on preventing terrorism before it occurs. In its recent Resolution 1963 (2010), the UN Security Council mandated its Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate to work with Member States to develop mechanisms to address “the factors that lead to terrorist activities”. Increasingly, Member States are looking to coordinate support for efforts to build counterterrorism prevention capacities on the ground. The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, in a variety of programs, projects, and expert interviews such as this one, seeks to foster discussion of what it means to build terrorism prevention capacities – and in particular, what it means for the UN to support such activities.
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Events
Prevention Roundtables
On April 12 the New York office of the Center initiated a new series of Prevention Roundtables with a talk by Tom Parker, Policy Director for Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Human Rights at Amnesty International USA. Mr. Parker discussed the role of human rights activists in terrorism prevention. Edward Flynn, Senior Human Rights Officer at the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, served as a discussant.
A second Roundtable followed on April 28, with Richard Evans discussing the United Kingdom’s national experience with the prevention of terrorism and James Roscoe, from the United Kingdom’s Mission to the UN, providing comments in response.
A third roundtable, held on May 5, featured Dr. Bruce Jones of the Brookings Institution, discussing the World Bank's recently released World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development.
The Roundtable Series offers a select group of invited officials from UN bodies and Permanent Missions a chance to meet in an informal atmosphere to consider state-of-the-art thinking on how to prevent terrorism. Roundtables are held in an informal atmosphere, with discussions off the record, to foster dialogue and analysis, and inform policy discussions in New York and beyond.
Upcoming Roundtables include:
- May 26: Preventing Terrorism in Cyberspace – what role for multilateral organizations? Speaker: Evan Kohlmann, Flashpoint Global Partners
- June 6: Youth outreach in terrorism prevention – what role for multilateral organizations? Speakers: Suzanne Bilello (UNESCO) and Karen Walker (University of Maryland)
- Week of June 24, date TBC: Victims of Terrorism – what role in prevention? Speakers: Carie Lemack, Global Survivors Network, and other victims of terrorism
- July, date TBC: Terrorism prevention and ‘Rule of Law promotion’ in the UN: time for integration? Speaker: Camino Kavanagh, Center on International Cooperation, NYU
Preventing Radicalization and Promoting the Rule of Law: Perspectives from the Netherlands and the United States
24 March 2011, 11:30-1:00 PM | Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, Washington, DC
The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation held a luncheon event on “Preventing Radicalization and Promoting the Rule of Law: Perspectives from the Netherlands and the United States.” The event focused on the outreach efforts and rule of law approaches by government agencies in the Netherlands and United States to counter the threat of radicalization within communities that could be vulnerable to extremist radicalization and terrorist recruitment. Three panelists offered their perspectives: Prof. Ernst Hirsch Ballin, (former) Minister of Justice and Minister of Home Affairs of the Netherlands; Mazen Basrawi, Counsel, Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice; and David Gersten, Director, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Programs Branch, Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Center’s Director, Alistair Millar moderated the discussion and the question and answer session that followed. The discussants offered experiences on policies undertaken by their respective government agencies on preventing radicalization in vulnerable communities, outreach to these communities to open dialogue, including Muslim leaders, criminal justice methods to prevent communities from falling to violent extremism, and the issue of civil rights and civil liberties when handling legal cases within the community. The panelists also explored some commonalities and differences between government approaches taken by the Netherlands and the United States on preventing radicalization.
Conference on Use of the Internet to Counter the Appeal of Extremist Violence
24-26 January 2011 | Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation co-organized a conference on the “Use of the Internet to Counter the Appeal of Extremist Violence” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 24-26 January 2011. The conference, supported by Germany, was hosted by Naif Arab University for Security Science (NAUSS) and co-organized by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force's Working Group on Countering the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes. The conference convened over 120 policy-makers, experts and practitioners drawn from national governments, international organizations, civil society the private sector, and academia who have experience or policy interest in designing and disseminating counter-narratives on the Internet. Just as the Internet may influence people towards violent behavior, so too can it promote a counter to the extremist narrative. To this end, experts shared their analyses of the problems and opportunities presented by the Internet and other media in building and delivering effective counter-narratives, with a view to developing national and international initiatives that can challenge the claims of legitimacy, relevance, and credibility by extremist groups.
Click here to view the conference agenda.
Press coverage:
"Agencies Aim to Counter Threat Of Online Extremism," Deborah Amos, National Public Radio, 2 February 2011.
"Terrorism fight 'must shift to cyberspace' Saudi conference agrees," Caryle Murphy, The National, 27 January 2011.
"UN workshop in Riyadh focuses on use of Internet to counter appeal of extremist violence," UN News Centre, 24 January 2011.
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