Publications
Reports
 Countering Terrorism in South Asia: Strengthening Multilateral Engagement - May 2009Description: Horrific acts of terrorism, such as the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, underscore the regional nature of the terrorist threat in South Asia and point to the need for greater cooperation within the region to address it. This report explores ways to strengthen such cooperation, with a particular focus on the role that regional bodies and the United Nations can play in that regard. It urges the United Nations to build on the international community’s solidarity in the wake of recent attacks in the region to forge stronger engagement between the United Nations and South Asia on counterterrorism and within the region itself. Download the PDF |
 The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Regional and Subregional Bodies: Strengthening a Critical Partnership - October 2008Description: This report discusses the contributions that regional and subregional bodies can make to implementing the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It provides a region-by-region survey of some of the contributions of those bodies and an overview of counterterrorism-related engagement between regional and subregional bodies and the UN system. It concludes with a series of forward-looking recommendations as to how to maximize the contributions of regional and subregional bodies to the implementation of the Strategy and to counterterrorism in general, as well as how to improve cooperation between those bodies and the United Nations. Download the PDF |
 International Process on Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation: A Compilation of Key Documents - September 2008Description: This report is a compendium of documents from the International Process on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, a process sponsored by the governments of Costa Rica, Japan, Slovakia, and Turkey and with the support of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. The focus of the process was to assess the overall contributions of the UN to the fight against terrorism and how to make its institutions more relevant to national counterterrorism strategies and better able to support implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Download the PDF |
 Civil Society and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy: Opportunities and ChallengesSeptember 2008 - By Eric Rosand, Jason Ipe, and Alistair Millar Description: This report explores the important, and often overlooked, role that civil society can play in combating terrorism without compromising their ongoing important work and the challenges and the opportunities for expanding engagement between civil society and the UN system on counterterrorism and related issues. The report also looks at the impact that counterterrorism measures have had on civil society and the need for the United Nations to promote the role of civil society, including in the context of Strategy implementation. Download the PDF |
 Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the Latin America and Caribbean RegionSeptember 2008 - By Eric Rosand, Jason Ipe, and Alistair Millar Description: This report provides an overview of issues relevant to the implementation of the UN Strategy in the Latin America and Caribbean region. It focuses on the role of the UN and regional and subregional bodies, in particular the Organization of American States, and looks at how counterterrorism cooperation within and between these bodies could be strengthened, and how the Strategy could be used to further not only this cooperation but also broader regional efforts to combat terrorism. Download the PDF |
 Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in East AfricaJune 2008 - By Eric Rosand, Jason Ipe, and Alistair Millar Description: This report provides an analysis of issues and challenges relevant to the implementation of the UN Strategy in East Africa and an overview of the Strategy-related counterterrorism efforts of some of the key stakeholders in the subregion. It offers a series of recommendations aimed at states, the United Nations, and regional and subregional bodies on how to further the implementation of the Strategy in East Africa with a view to strengthening counterterrorism cooperation in this volatile subregion. Download the PDF |
 Human Rights and the Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism StrategyJanuary 2008 - By Eric Rosand, Alistair Millar, and Jason Ipe Description: This report addresses the challenge of ensuring that the human rights–based approach to combating terrorism enshrined in the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is mainstreamed through the relevant UN and regional bodies and programs and at the national level. It provides specific recommendations on what the UN, region and sub-regional bodies, and civil society can do to carry forward the human rights elements of the UN Strategy. Download the PDF |
 Handbook on Human Rights Compliance While Countering Terrorism January 2008 - By Alex Conte Description:The handbook was produced for the Center by Dr. Alex Conte who is a reader in law at the University of Southampton and a member of the Advisory Panel of Experts to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism. The handbook provides practical guidance to decision-makers on what human rights compliance means and how it is to be achieved in the context of counterterrorism law and practice. Download the PDF |
 Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Southern AfricaNovember 2007 - By Eric Rosand, Jason Ipe, and Alistair Millar Description: The report focuses on the challenges of and priorities for implementing the UN's Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in southern Africa. It considers how the UN Strategy can be used as a guide for governments in and outside the sub-region, the UN, and other multilateral bodies and civil society to contribute more effectively to addressing the terrorist threat and as a basis for improving the overall coordination and cooperation in the sub-region in combating terrorism Download the PDF |
 Building Global Alliances in the Fight against TerrorismNovember 2007 - Alistair Millar and Eric Rosand Description: Commissioned by the Better World Campaign of the UN Foundation, "Building Global Alliances in the Fight Against Terrorism" outlines steps the next administration should take during its first one hundred days to improve international cooperation against terrorism, repair its damaged reputation on the international stage, and protect America from another major terrorist attack Download the PDF |
 The UN Security Council's Counterterrorism Program: What Lies Ahead? October 2007 - Eric Rosand, Alistair Millar, and Jason Ipe Description: The culmination of the “Security Council Counterterrorism Review Project,” which was co-sponsored by the International Peace Academy and the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, this report highlights the successes and shortcomings of the post-September 2001 Security Council counterterrorism program and the steps that can be taken to improve it in particular the work of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and its Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED). |
 Implementing the United Nations General Assembly’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the Asia-Pacific March 2007 - Alistair Millar, Eric Rosand, and Jason Ipe Description:The Asia-Pacific, and Southeast Asia in particular, faces serious threats from terrorist groups that have demonstrated an ability to exploit the region’s geographical and institutional vulnerabilities, large areas insufficiently controlled by national governments, intra- and inter-state rivalries, local insurgencies, and a relative lack of formal multilateral security cooperation. This report looks at the challenges and prospects for implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the region. Download the PDF |
 Report on Standards and Best Practices for Improving States Implementation of UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism MandatesSeptember 2006 - Alistair Millar et al. Description: This report provides an assessment of core counterterrorism standards and best practices. Using UN Security Council Resolution 1373 as its basis, the report identifies best practices in three broad areas related to the resolution: combating terrorist financing, improving legal practice and law enforcement, and enhancing territorial control. Download the PDF |
Policy Briefs
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 Policy Brief - Global Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1540: An Enhanced UN Response is NeededOctober 2009 - By Eric Rosand This policy brief examines the work of the United Nations to promote implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which is aimed at preventing weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery from getting into the hands of non-state actors. It argues that the capacity of the United Nations to promote implementation of the resolution, in particular that of the Security Council’s 1540 Committee and its Group of Experts, should be strengthened and provides specific recommendations for how that should be done. Download the PDF |
 Policy Brief - The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Terrorism Prevention Branch: Strengths and Challenges AheadJuly 2009 - By Eric Rosand This policy brief examines the efforts of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Terrorism Prevention Branch, which provides various forms of counterterrorism-related assistance to countries to help them join and implement the universal instruments against terrorism and strengthen the capacity of their national criminal justice systems to deal with terrorism. Download the PDF |
 Policy Brief - The G8’s Counterterrorism Action GroupMay 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. Download the PDF |
 Policy Brief - From Adoption to Action: The UN’s Role in Implementing its Global Counter-Terrorism StrategyApril 2009 - By Eric Rosand This policy brief examines the role of the United Nations system in carrying forward implementation of the UN General Assembly's 2006 Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It highlights some of the United Nations’ achievements in supporting Strategy implementation efforts; enumerates some of the challenges facing the organization as it seeks to enhance these efforts; and offers suggestions on how to overcome them. Download the PDF |
Articles
 "Developing Regional Counterterrorism Cooperation in South Asia,"West Point CTC Sentinel December 2009 - By Alistair Millar Description: In light of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai and numerous terrorist attacks since, this article looks at the pressing need and prospects for developing a regional approach to intelligence sharing, law enforcement, and other forms of counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia. It highlights some of the challenges to developing effective regional counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia by looking at the counterterrorism efforts of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It argues that South Asian states and their external partners need to move beyond well intended statements to focus on building practical counterterrorism cooperation at the technical level. Specifically, it recommends the establishment of a new regional counterterrorism forum for cooperation, with the necessary expertise and mandate to provide training and implement related counterterrorism capacity building efforts in South Asia, arguing that building the capacity of, and trust between, law enforcement and judicial officials and other technical counterterrorism practitioners in the region and could lead to higher levels of political cooperation against terrorism. Download the PDF "Countering Terrorism and Building Cooperation in North Africa: The Potential Significance of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy," Real Instituto Elcano December 2009 - By Eric Rosand Description: Despite the considerable efforts by governments in North Africa, many of which pre-date the attacks of 11 September 2001, the terrorist threat there remains acute. The rapid growth of entwined transnational terrorist and other criminal networks operating between North Africa and the Sahel may be one of the most immediate causes of instability in the region. After providing an overview of the terrorist threats and vulnerabilities confronting North Africa, as well the region’s capacities to address the threat and obstacles to cooperation, this policy brief will highlight the potential significance of the UN Strategy for the region. Among other things, it will explain how this UN instrument could contribute to a recalibration of counterterrorism efforts in North Africa and to a strengthening of cooperation both among regional stakeholders and between the region and external partners including the EU, the UN and the US. Click here to read.  "Enhancing Counterterrorism Cooperation in Eastern Africa,"African Security Review June 2009 - By Eric Rosand, Alistair Millar, and Jason Ipe Description: This article begins with an overview of the terrorist threat and vulnerabilities in eastern Africa and the capacity of governments to respond. It then looks at the response at subregional level and what has developed into the primary mechanism for fostering deeper sub-regional cooperation, ICPAT, and how they may be improved. It also examines how the United Nations can help to strengthen that cooperation and the opportunity offered by the September 2006 UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
 "Combating WMD Terrorism: The Short-Sighted US-led Multilateral Response,"The International Spectator April 2009 - By Eric Rosand Description: This article provides an overview of the U.S.-led multilateral response to the threat of WMD terrorism. The piece argues that the Bush administration’s preference for informal, ad hoc arrangements over existing multilateral frameworks, while ensuring a rapid initial response to threat of WMD terrorism in the wake of 9/11, has also impeded efforts to build and sustain global support to respond to that threat.  "Enhancing Counterterrorism Cooperation in Southern Africa"African Security Review Volume 17, Number 2, 2008 - By Eric Rosand and Jason Ipe Description: This article provides an overview of the terrorist threat and vulnerabilities in southern Africa and the capacity of the subregion to respond. It focuses on mechanisms of subregional counterterrorism cooperation and how they may be improved. It argues that an effective response to the threat will require the engagement of a range of stakeholders with technical, financial, and other resources including not just states but regional and sub-regional bodies, the UN system, and other donors and assistance providers as well as civil society. Download the PDF |
 "Fighting Terrorists, Targeting the Roots of Contemporary Terrorism"The InterDependent Winter 2007/2008 - By Eric Rosand Description: In the Winter issue of the The InterDependent, as part of a series on "What the UN Can and Cannot Do Alone," Senior Fellow, Eric Rosand, argues that despite the UN's inability to define terrorism and other shortcomings, it has a crucial role in addressing the multi-dimensional threat of terrorism, namely in establishing norms, facilitating technical cooperation between states, and in providing assistance to improve the capacity of all states to combat terrorism. Download the PDF |
 "Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the Asia-Pacific"Asian Security Volume 3, Number 3, 2007 - By Alistair Millar and Eric Rosand Description: This article discusses the challenge of implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. The article starts with an analysis of the Strategy itself and then examines the nature of the threat facing areas within such a vast and diverse region. It then turns to the roles relevant regional and sub-regional bodies and the different parts of the UN system can play in strengthening implementation and how the Strategy might be a vehicle for creating a more coherent regional response to the terrorist threat. |
 "Global Terrorism: Multilateral Responses to an Extraordinary Threat,"International Peace Academy Coping with Crisis Working Paper Series April 2007 - By Eric Rosand Description: This article examines the status—and prospects—of multilateral responses to global terrorism. It outlines what is known, and perceived, about the nature of the threat posed by contemporary international terrorism. It discusses current efforts directed at managing this threat, focusing on initiatives in the multilateral realm and points to possible scenarios for the future development of a more coordinated and coherent international response to terrorism. Download the PDF |
| "Renewing the US-UN Partnership against Terrorism," UN Foundation Insights 2007 - By Eric Rosand Description: Senior Fellow, Eric Rosand, argues that “in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the US succeeded in reaching out to the UN, in particular the Security Council, to help globalize the ‘war on terror,’” but that in recent years US attention has waned, letting “much of the critical international counter-terrorism machinery, which it was instrumental in creating, atrophy.” Rosand points out, however, that the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in September 2006, offers the US the opportunity to reassume its leadership role on the issue and urges the new UN Secretary-General and US Ambassador to the UN to renew the US-UN partnership against terrorism. Download the PDF |
 "The UN-Led Multilateral Institutional Response to Jihadist Terrorism: Is a Global Counterterrorism Body Needed?" Journal of Conflict & Security LawJanuary 2007 - By Eric Rosand Download the PDF |
Books
 Uniting Against Terror2007 MIT Press - David Cortright and George Lopez (eds) Description: Uniting Against Terror examines and evaluates post-9/11 cooperative nonmilitary responses to the global terrorist threat, with a particular focus on efforts of the United Nations, the Financial Action Task Force, the European Union, and a wide array of multilateral institutions. Order from MIT Press |
 Allied Against Terrorism 2006 Century Foundation - By Alistair Millar and Eric Rosand Description: Allied Against Terrorism takes a critical look at the UN Security Council's efforts to assume the leading role among international organizations involved in counterterrorism. The authors enumerate a series of structural changes that could strengthen Security Council-led efforts in the short-term but argue that over the long term a new international body dedicated to counterterrorism may be needed. The authors consider the merits of different models for such a body and outline the essential characteristics such an entity would require to succeed. Order a copy of the book |
Remarks
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