H.E. Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, presented her credentials to Secretary-General António Guterres 2 August 2022.

The latest report on the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate's achievements and activities from 2018 to 2021 highlights progress made and the way forward. Prepared by CTED, the report, published as document S/2022/529 on the United Nations Official Documents System on 23 August, focuses on the elements specifically identified in resolution 2395 (2017) and other relevant Security Council resolutions and decisions.

Mindful of the increasing threat posed by the misuse of new and emerging technologies, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) has decided to hold a special meeting on this theme, with the support of its Executive Directorate (CTED), in India on 28 and 29 October 2022. The special meeting will specifically focus on three significant areas where emerging technologies are experiencing rapid development, growing use by Member States (including for security and counter-terrorism purposes), and increasing threat of abuse for terrorism purposes, namely (a) the Internet and social media, (b) terrorism financing, and (c) unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

Between 16 September and 3 October 2022, there was a CTED-led series of six virtual thematic technical sessions informing the special meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee on “Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes”, to be held in India on 28 and 29 October.

On Wednesday, 7 September 2022, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) held a virtual roundtable on the traffic and illicit trade of cultural property for terrorist purposes, organized in close collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations.

The Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) held its first Insight Briefing on 25 August, aimed at enriching Member States’ understanding of current developments relating to acts of terrorism and violent extremism, as well as responses to such acts. The Insight Briefing offered Member States an opportunity to learn and examine new tools and approaches taken by partners Tech Against Terrorism and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT). This was the first in a series of Insight Briefings, developed in accordance with Security Council resolution 2395 (2017) which reaffirms the essential role of CTED within the United Nations to identify and assess issues, trends and developments relating to the implementation of its resolutions 1373 (2001), 1624 (2005), 2178 (2014), 2322 (2016), 2396 (2017), among other relevant resolutions.

On 9 August 2022, Mr. Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT), briefed the Security Council on the Fifteenth report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat (S/2022/576). 

On 9 February 2022, Mr. Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT), briefed the Security Council on the Fourteenth report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat (S/2022/63). 

On 30 December 2021, the United Nations Security Council, acting through its written silence procedure, unanimously adopted resolution 2617 (2021), renewing the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), as a special political mission under the policy guidance of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, until 31 December 2025. The Counter-Terrorism Committee was created by resolution 1373 (2001), following the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States.
 

 

CTED’s latest Trends Alert sheds light on how the trade in natural resources often spills across borders and its proceeds may infiltrate the financial systems of countries not directly affected by the presence of terrorist groups in their territories. At a virtual launch of the report, CTED hosted a discussion delving into these and other related issues.

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A joint International Peace Institute-CTED initiative resulted in this paper. Violent extremist and terrorist groups across the ideological spectrum exploit masculinities in their efforts to recruit and retain members. However, masculinities are not adequately considered in existing -and countering violent extremism (CVE) efforts. Authors Aleksandra Dier, UN Women’s Regional Advisor on women, peace, and security in the Middle East and North Africa, and Gretchen Baldwin, a researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Peace Operations and Conflict Management programme, examine the issues and present recommendations.

CTED’s latest report synthesizes the views of more than 50 representatives of African civil society organizations (CSOs), located in 15 Member States, who contributed to two virtual roundtables convened by CTED in October and November 2021. The roundtables formed part of CTED’s ongoing efforts to engage with its civil society partners in accordance with Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), which notes the importance of engagement with locally-focused entities and recognizes “the importance of civil society, including community-based civil society, in increasing awareness about the threats of terrorism and more effectively tackling them.”

On 18 March 2022, the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) launched the “Technical guidelines to facilitate the implementation of Security Council resolution 2370 (2017) and related international standards and good practices on preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons.” The technical guidelines have been developed under a joint project implemented by CTED, working on behalf of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact Working Group on Border Management and Law Enforcement (BMLE WG) relating to Counter-Terrorism, funded by UNCCT and co-implemented by UNCCT and UNIDIR.
 

 

On 25 January 2022, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) issued a Trends Report on “The State of International Cooperation for Lawful Access to Digital Evidence: Research Perspectives”. 
 

Prepared in accordance with Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), this report builds on CTED’s engagement with Member States, including in the context of the country assessment visits conducted on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. It also benefits insights collected from various sources, including privacy- and data-protection agencies, and representatives of the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) from around the world, as well as members of relevant international and regional institutions working on cross-border data reforms. This report offers a snapshot of the regulatory reform landscape as of late 2021 and its main objective is to identify some of the major trends that contribute to the current overall cross-border situation in this area.

 

On 10 January 2022, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) issued a study on “The interrelationship between counter-terrorism frameworks and international humanitarian law”. 
 

The study, prepared in accordance with Security Council resolution 2617 (2021), builds on CTED’s engagement with Member States and other relevant stakeholders, including in the context of the country assessment visits conducted on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. It also benefits from a contribution by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which provided an anonymized analysis and synthesis of information collected from the humanitarian community on the impact of counter-terrorism measures on humanitarian operations conducted in situations of armed conflict where terrorist groups are active.

 

On 10 December 2021, CTED published its latest Analytical Brief, which explores key trends and challenges relating to the use of biometrics in counter-terrorism. Using as its starting point the adoption of Security Council resolution 2396 (2017) — which requires Member States to develop and implement systems to collect biometric data in order to identify terrorists responsibly and properly — the Brief provides unique insights derived from CTED’s dialogue with Member States on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee and its engagement with UN partners and civil society.
 

CTED’s analysis indicates that, although 118 of the 193 United Nations Member States have made at least marginal progress in introducing biometrics for counter-terrorism purposes, the extent of biometrics use and expertise varies significantly. Although biometrics are widely used in nearly half of European Member States, they have only been marginally introduced across the Middle East, and more than half of African Member States have yet to introduce biometrics at all.

 

On 2 November 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Committee adopted the updated edition of its Global survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and other relevant resolutions by Member States, which is based on the assessment of States’ counter-terrorism efforts by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). Since 2005, CTED has visited 117 Member States and completed a total of 181 comprehensive, focused, regional and follow-up visits.
 

Regarded as the most comprehensive analytical documents on counter-terrorism in the UN system, the Committee’s Global implementation surveys (GIS) consider where progress has been made and where gaps remain and identify where the international community might most usefully focus its efforts. The surveys also contain global assessments of Member States’ efforts across all major thematic areas addressed by the relevant resolutions. They are  updated every few years.

 

On 2 November 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Committee adopted the updated edition of its Global survey of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1624 (2005) by Member States. The 1624 GIS was prepared by CTED pursuant to the request of the Security Council, contained in its resolution 2395 (2017), that CTED update the previous survey (S/2016/50), issued in January 2016. It contains a detailed regional overview of the steps taken by States to implement Security Council resolutions aimed at countering incitement to commit terrorist acts, violent extremism, and terrorist narratives, focusing primarily on the implementation of resolution 1624 (2005), which calls on all States to prohibit by law incitement to commit a terrorist act or acts. According to CTED’s analysis, as of 1 March 2021, 112 States had expressly criminalized incitement to commit a terrorist act or acts in their national legislation (compared with a figure of “at least 76 States”, as of 1 November 2015).

 

On 17 December 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) issued a report on “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on terrorism, counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism”, thus concluding its analytical series on this issue.

The report follows on from CTED’s June 2021 report, which provided an overview of the potential long-term impacts of the pandemic, as well as key regional and thematic trends, informed by CTED’s ongoing dialogue with Member States (including within the framework of the hybrid assessment visits currently being conducted on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee). The June 2021 report also featured survey data collected from 49 of CTED’s partners from across the United Nations, civil society, academia and the private sector. More than two-thirds of respondents stated that COVID-19 had made counter-terrorism and CVE more challenging.

The December 2021 report concludes the series by summarizing CTED’s analysis to date, noting that the pandemic has exacerbated many pre-existing issues and challenges that shape the terrorist threat landscape. Terrorists and violent extremists have sought to exploit pandemic-related sociocultural restrictions, including their efforts to recruit, radicalize, and organize via virtual platforms. Where pandemic-related restrictions have artificially and temporarily suppressed the threat of terrorism, their easing may result in an increase in terrorist violence.

BRUSSELS – From 27 to 29 April 2022, the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) jointly organized a workshop for Europe to promote the Technical guidelines to facilitate the implementation of Security Council resolution 2370 (2017).
 

From 7 to 10 June 2022, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) co-organized with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) a workshop held in Abuja, Nigeria. Under the project “Supporting Lake Chad Basin Countries to Develop and Implement Strategies for the Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (SPRR) of Boko Haram-Associated Persons,” the workshop was its final bilateral event that was part of a series of efforts to help Lake Chad Basin countries develop a common approach to persons associated with Boko Haram, a group that was added to the United Nations consolidated sanctions list in 2014.
 

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9 August 2022 – "Terrorism does not exist in a vacuum," Mr. Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate told the Security Council. "The threat posed by Da’esh and its affiliates remains both global and evolving. Despite its recent leadership losses, Da’esh continues to take advantage of conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism to recruit as well as to organize and execute complex attacks. The exploitation of conflict-related fragilities remains at the heart of this strategy, notably in Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic, and across the African continent. The situation in Africa, notably West and Central Africa and Mozambique, has become more concerning."
 

DUBAI, 10 March 2022 – "Parliamentarians represent localities and constituents throughout their countries and therefore play an essential role in voicing the concerns of local communities and civil society in addressing terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, which requires a 'whole-of-society' approach," Mr. Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate said at sixteenth plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
 

31 January 2022– Opening remarks of H.E. Mr. T. S. Tirumurti, Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism, at the Niger/Nigeria bilateral workshop on “Prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration approaches for persons associated with Boko Haram."