December 2016 Volume 12 12 11 December 2016 Volume 12 121211 Advisory Board discusses UNCCT work The Advisory Board of the United Nations Counter- The Director of CTITF-UNCCT, Dr. Khan also briefed Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) met on 14 September the Advisory Board on the Centre’s comprehensive 2016 to discuss the Centre’s work and strategic capacity-building activities according to each pillar of topics pertaining to UNCCT’s achievements. the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. He provided updates on efforts related to preventing violent The Chairman, H.E. Ambassador Abdallah Yahya Al- extremism, Advanced Passenger Information (API), Mouallimi, the Permanent Representative of the complying with international human rights standards Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opened the 13th meeting of while countering terrorism, and the Integrated the Board by noting the important adoption of the Assistance on Counter-Terrorism (I-ACT) initiative. Fifth Review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (A/RES/70/291). He also welcomed new One theme that resonated during the meeting was funds and pledges that were made to the Centre by the importance of diversifying UNCCT’s donor base various Member States and the European Union. to ensure the sustainability of the Centre. Ambassador Al-Mouallimi, Mr. Feltman, Mr. Khan, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and and other Board Members emphasized this point Executive Director of the UNCCT, Mr. Jeffrey during their statements. Feltman, briefed the Advisory Board on how the Review Resolution impacted the work of the Centre In 2016, the UNCCT also held two expert-level and noted that “In fact, some of the challenges meetings of the Advisory Board to discuss the identified in the Resolution are already being Centre’s work in more detail. The Centre updated addressed by the Centre, as they have been experts on projects related to border security and foreseen by the UNCCT’s Five Year Plan.” countering the financing of terrorism. Updates on the development of the UNCCT’s Monitoring and In his address, Mr. Feltman gave an overview of the Evaluation Framework for the 5-Year Programme UNCCT’s work during the first nine months of the were also provided during both meetings. Centre’s 5-Year Programme (2016-2020). He highlighted that the priority focus remains on The UNCCT benefits from the advice of an Advisory countries and regions where the threat of terrorism is Board consisting of 21 Member States and the particularly acute, where the Centre can make a European Union as a guest member. difference, and where needs require quick action. For more information: www.un.org/uncct 1 une 2016 Volume 1 December 2016 Volume 12 G5 Sahel: I-ACT Missions to Mauritania and Mali From 31 August to 9 September 2016, CTITF-UNCCT What is the Integrated Assistance for deployed two back-to-back missions to Mauritania and Countering Terrorism (I-ACT)? Mali to promote the implementation of the Integrated Assistance for Countering Terrorism (I-ACT) Initiative. I-ACT is a tool designed to ensure an integrated, strategic and system-wide Senior officials from the G5 Sahel Member States met in approach to capacity building for the Nouakchott to discuss the development of a preliminary implementation of the UN Global Counter- I-ACT regional framework for the G5 Sahel. Terrorism Strategy in a requesting country or The mission in Mauritania took place from 31 August to 1 region. September 2016, responding to a request by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 2195 (2014) and The consultations provided a platform for sharing S/PRST/2015/24 and guided by the results of the Fifth regional experiences in countering terrorism and Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. preventing violent extremism, and explored potential cooperation between the UN system, the G5 Sahel Permanent Secretariat and the G5 Sahel Member States. The Consultations also helped to identify regional common needs in the field of countering terrorism and preventing of violent extremism. Drawing on the outcomes of the consultations, UNCCT is elaborating an I-ACT regional framework of UN projects and programmes, including G5 Sahel Programmes. In Mali, the I-ACT mission (5-9 September) followed up on the implementation of technical assistance projects that are already ongoing under the I-ACT framework for Mali and discussed priority activities under a potential next phase. CTITF-UNCCT, working closely with CTED, UNDP and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), is supporting the Malian Government to develop a comprehensive national strategy on countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism and while ensuring Mali’s compliance with international standards. CTITF-UNCCT will also continue the implementation of the quick and medium term projects previously agreed with the Malian Government to strengthen the judiciary system, counter suicide bombing and ensure human rights compliance of civilian counter-terrorism activities. “Militant movements seen in northern Mali and north-eastern Nigeria threaten to destabilize West Africa, the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin area. Across the Sahel, 4.5 million people are displaced, and six million are in need of emergency food assistance. Boko Haram continues to change tactics, having twice overrun the city of Bosso in Niger in June and struck further afield in West Africa, in Burkina Faso on 15 January and in Côte d’Ivoire on 13 March 2016. UNOWAS organized a regional conference on the Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. Mr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UNOWAS - Security Council Briefing, 11July 2016. 2 une 2016 Volume 1 December 2016 Volume 12 International Good Practices on The participants also heard from a former hostage, and had the opportunity to put the newly acquired skills and Addressing and Preventing tools into practice in a table top exercise, during which Kidnapping for Ransom they worked in teams to respond to a simulated KFR incident. Three additional workshops for governments Hostage taking and kidnapping have been used by and NGOs will take place in North Africa in 2017. terrorist groups not only as a traditional tactic aimed at achieving media attention and propaganda benefits, but also increasingly as a means of fundraising through ransoms. For instance, the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Joint Special Meeting on Terrorist Philippines has collected over USD 7.5 million through Financing: The Risks and Way Forward ransoms in the first half of 2016 alone. At the same time, A growing number of Member States are assessing resolving terrorist kidnapping for ransom incidents and specific terrorist financing risks and the vulnerability of the safe recovery of hostages has become an their financial and economic sectors to terrorist increasingly difficult endeavour due to prolonged incident financing. While terrorist entities and individuals are still durations, growing complexity of the kidnappers’ relying on traditional forms of terrorist financing such as motivations, rising sophistication of their modus cash or money remitters, these groups are also utilizing operandi, greater tendency of terrorist groups to hold the Internet and other forms of information and hostages in inaccessible strongholds, and their communication technologies to access, raise, and move increasingly ambitious demands. funds. The UNCCT has responded to the rising threat through its Project on International Best Practices on Addressing These were some of the key themes raised in a joint Kidnapping for Ransom (KFR), with the objective of special meeting of the Security Council Counter- increasing the capacity of States and NGOs in North, Terrorism Committee, the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) East and West Africa to achieve the safe return of and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, together with the hostages, while at the same time denying terrorists the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), organized at the benefits of ransom payments and political concessions. United Nations on 12 and 13 December 2016. Several tools already exist to counter terrorist financing, such as In the second half of 2016, UNCCT has delivered asset freezing requirements or information sharing capacity building workshops for Government mechanisms. policymakers and KFR operators from West African states in Accra, Ghana (November 16-17, 2016), and for The main challenge consists of implementing these tools East and West African NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya (7-8 effectively. The joint special meeting – held under the September, 2016) and Dakar, Senegal (14-15 December mandate of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) on 2016). The workshops covered topics such as the efforts to suppress terrorist financing, which expanded stages of a kidnapping, terrorist KFR trends and the sanctions framework to include ISIL (Da'esh) – dynamics, the ethical and legal dilemmas involved in the provided an important forum for Member States and process of hostage recovery, the management of other actors to share practices and lessons learned that communication with hostage takers, the importance of can guide the way forward. family liaison and media management, as well as post- incident hostage reintegration. 3 une 2016 Volume 1 December 2016 Volume 12 Security Council unanimously adopts resolution on international judicial cooperation in countering terrorism The transnational nature of terrorism requires a coordinated response from all States and actors of the international community. Cooperation in judicial matters is an indispensable requirement