The EU-led Oversight and Accountability Initiative hosted a transregional meeting convening experts from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia to inform an anticipated set of GCTF non-binding, practical recommendations on compliance with human rights in a counterterrorism context.
The West Africa Working Group held a side event on the margins of the GCTF’s 23rd Coordinating Committee Meeting to take stock of its achievements over the last 5 years. Regional partners explored how the Working Group’s regional meetings, supported by tailored national capacity-building activities, have benefited practitioners locally in their fight against terrorism, and how needs-focused regional events could further contribute to strengthening regional inter-agency and cross-border cooperation.
On 22 February 2024, the GCTF Co-Leads the United States and Jordan, together with UNOCT, held their first workshop of the new BSM Initiative to create an Addendum to the 2016 GCTF Good Practices in the Area of Border Security and Management. The Initiative aims to promote an inclusive and collaborative approach towards border security, grounded in international human rights law.
A spotlight on GCTF efforts on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) conducive to terrorism , on the International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism.
The REMVE Initiative Leads, the United States and Norway, recently held a two-day workshop, hosted by the Netherlands, 8 – 9 February 2024, in The Hague. The interactive workshop brought a variety of stakeholders together to further enhance the REMVE Toolkit’s good practices and recommendations. The interactive tabletop exercises allowed participants to share more unique, local community-level perspectives during the discussions to help address the rapidly evolving REMVE threats conducive to terrorism.
To promote an inclusive and collaborative approach towards border security, grounded in international human rights law, the GCTF Foreign Terrorist Fighter Working Group (co-chaired by Jordan and the United States) is partnering with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in the Border Security and Management (BSM) Initiative. As part of this Initiative, a series of exploratory dialogues are being conducted with subject matter experts. On 18 January 2023, the second exploratory dialogue was held to garner insights from a diverse group of stakeholders on the opportunities and threats posed by technological advancements in border security and management.
The GCTF FTF Working Group Co-Chairs, Jordan and the United States, in partnership with the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea 2023 Co-Chairs, Côte D'Ivoire and Germany, held a two-day, interactive “Operationalizing the Prevention and Interdiction of Maritime Terrorist Travel in West Africa” workshop, that involving panel discussions and table-top exercises with a wide range of stakeholders, and concluded with a visit to the Port of Dakar, Senegal.
From 5-7 December, the West Africa Working Group (WAWG) held their second Disrupt the Networks event with a focus on preventing terrorist groups from acquiring Small Arms and Light Weapons, Ammunitions and Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the context of terrorist violence in West Africa. The meeting took place in Banjul, The Gambia. The regional event followed a previous 'Disrupt the Networks' event, which took place in Lomé, Togo, in June 2023, that focused on countering terrorist Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) networks.
The United Kingdom and the United States are hosting a series of operationalization webinars as part the GCTF Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems and New, Emerging, and Disruptive Technologies Initiative. The third virtual workshop looking into the benefits and challenges of emerging technologies on Unmanned Aerial Systems was held recently, where simulations helped bring to life the twenty-six recommendations of the Berlin Memorandum.