This policy brief presents a short case study of a Danish initiative within the field of counterradicalization that provides channels for group interaction between state authorities and members of the Muslim community in Denmark. What makes the initiative unusual and interesting is that the main government actor involved is the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Politiets Efterretningstjenneste, or PET).

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CGCC releases major new research study on regulation of Somali remittances

Capitalizing on Trust:  Harnessing Somali remittances for counterterrorism, human rights and statebuilding

On 2 April 2012 the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation released the first in a suite of three major research reports focusing on strengthening East African counterterrorism cooperation. The first report, Capitalizing on Trust: Harnessing Somali remittances for counterterrorism, human rights and statebuildingwas written by Center Co-director James Cockayne, with Programs Officer Liat Shetret and the generous support of the Royal Danish Foreign Ministry.

The report is essential reading for policy makers and analysts interested in Somalia,hawalas, diasporas, alternative money transfer systems and the role of remittances in global trade and finance. It explores the complex economic, social and political impacts of Somali remittances, and offers ideas for improving regulation, including combating money laundering and countering terrorist financing, and harnessing the power of remittances to help rebuild Somalia. The report draws on more than six months’ desk research, 27 interviews with Somali remittance organizations in East Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America, and a survey of financial regulators around the world. The report finds that trust is central to the industry’s business model, and argues that trust is the key to improving its regulation. It closes with a series of recommendations for improving regulation and better harnessing Somali remittances for Somali statebuilding.

“The people of Somalia have suffered from the ravages of war for over two decades. It is a community whose survival instincts are exemplary to us all. This report ‘Capitalizing on Trust’ addresses the core activities that have enabled innocent Somali people to survive the suffering brought about by war. It will go a long way in enabling policy makers in the Eastern Africa region and the global community to engage constructively with Somali diaspora communities to help rebuild Somalia.”

Dr. Eliawony J. Kisanga,
Executive Secretary, Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)

The Center will be releasing two related reports over the next two months. Both were developed in collaboration with the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and written largely by local researchers: a joint Baseline Study on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT); and the final report of a Task Force on Legal Cooperation against Terrorism in the IGAD region. All three reports will be formally launched at a Convention of East African Counter-Terrorism Practitioners to be held by the Center and IGAD in Addis Ababa on 22-23 May 2012.

To read the Executive Summary of Capitalizing on Trust click here.
To read Capitalizing on Trust in full click here.

For more information please contact Ms. Liat Shetret, lshetret@globalct.org, +1-212-682-5930.

On 20-22 March 2012, the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation co-convened the “Fifth regional workshop for police officers, prosecutors and judges in South Asia on effectively countering terrorism” in New Delhi, India. The three-day workshop, which was the fifth in a series of workshops designed to strengthen counterterrorism cooperation and capacity in the region, focused on issues related to interview and interrogation, the use of sensitive evidence that raises national security concerns, and effective implementation of domestic counterterrorism legislation. The workshop was hosted by the Government of India, in association with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Observer Research Foundation. It was organized by the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation with the support of the Governments of India and Denmark.

Click here to read the organizers’ key observations.

4-14 March 2012 | Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Kampala

Between 4 and 14 March 2012, a Task Force of eight high-ranking security and criminal justice officials from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and IGAD toured East Africa. This Task Force on Legal Cooperation Against Terrorism in the IGAD Subregion was coorganized by the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and the IGAD Security Sector Program.  The officials undertook an intensive 11-day study tour to hear the views of stakeholders across the subregion on how to strengthen cross-border legal cooperation against transnational terrorism.

The study tour stopped in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Kampala, and included consultations with delegations from seven IGAD Member States. The Task Force also met with representatives of the African Union Commission; the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development; and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. To further understand the legislative dynamics of cross-border law enforcement cooperation, the Task Force met with senior Ethiopian, Kenyan and Ugandan members of parliament.  Institutional, legal and operational issues were discussed in closed-door meetings with diplomatic, criminal justice, law enforcement, military and intelligence officials.

Working with ISSP and CGCC facilitators, Task Force members drafted a report including recommendations to IGAD, its Member States and other stakeholders on practical steps for strengthened legal cooperation against terrorism. This report will be released in May 2012.

For more on the Task Force project and a preview of their upcoming report recommendations, click here.

The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation facilitated the organization of a “Regional working group meeting on preventing abuse of the non-profit sector for the purposes of terrorist financing” in Nairobi, Kenya on 28 February-1 March 2012. The meeting, which focused on East Africa, was the third regional workshop in a process which includes a series of meetings to discuss the risk of terrorist abuse of the non-profit sector and to share good practices and foster cooperation in responding to that risk in different regions around the world. The meeting was convened under the auspices of the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate. Participants included representatives from international and regional organizations active in this field, in addition to national-level officials with a role in counter-terrorist financing or charities regulation and representatives from the non-profit sector from across East Africa.

Click here to read the agenda.

Click here to read discussion paper.

Panelists at the forum “Sanctions, Incentives, and Denuclearization: Options for Engaging the New Kim Regime in North Korea” in Washington, D.C. on February 16. Left to right: Alistair Millar, David Cortright, Stephen Bosworth, George A. Lopez.

The Fourth Freedom Forum’s Sanctions & Security Research Program, a partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, hosted two leading experts on North Korea in a lunchtime event that took place at the Forum’s Washington, DC office. The event titled “Sanctions, Incentives, and Denuclearization: Options for Engaging the New Kim Regime in North Korea,” featured the expert knowledge of Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, U.S. Special Representative to North Korea from 2009 through October 2011 and dean of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University, and George A. Lopez, who served on the UN Panel of Experts for North Korea between October 2010 and July 2011, and is the Hesburgh Chair of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute. The meeting highlights included consideration of the United States’ role in any discussions, the resumption of six-party talks, and the uncertainty in North Korea’s future, particularly with regard to nonproliferation.

Click here to read more about the event.

On 9-10 February, government representatives, experts, and practitioners had a chance to exchange lessons learned and insights on monitoring and evaluating counterterrorism measures – in particular, programs to prevent terrorism and violent extremism. This colloquium was organized by the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and co-financed by the governments of Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Participants included a broad range of experts and practitioners from approximately fifteen governments, as well as representatives from academia, aid organizations, the private sector, and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations.

Many states have undertaken efforts to develop programs to prevent terrorism and elaborate strategies to counter violent extremism. Governments are concerned to know whether these prevention strategies – which are a relatively new addition to the counter-terrorism toolkit – are effective. At the same time, governments are facing budgetary pressures and are keen to deploy limited resources in an optimal fashion. States and program administrators therefore confront the need to evaluate them and consider the development of indicators against which effectiveness of ongoing programs might be assessed. Participants in the colloquium acknowledged the timeliness of this discussion and were eager to see it continue and allow for greater cooperation and collaboration among governments and relevant experts.

During the colloquium, the Honorable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, Canada, announced the launch of Canada’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy, Building Resilience Against Terrorism, and reminded participants that, “While there are many counterterrorism programs in place there is currently little information on how to measure their effectiveness. In an era of global fiscal uncertainty, we need to know that we are directing our efforts and resources towards programs that are having a positive impact on our world.”

Click here to read the meeting notes.

Click here to see some of the presentations.

The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation is pleased to announce the release of its new report on Reshaping United Nations Counterterrorism Efforts. The report provides concrete suggestions for strengthening international counterterrorism efforts over the next decade, including three specific, costed options for a single UN counterterrorism coordinator. The report details 22 recommendations aimed at helping the UN to better exploit its comparative advantages in countering terrorism and to enhance the productivity of its partnerships with other counterterrorism actors, including states, regional intergovernmental bodies, non-government, experts and civil society.

Based on twelve months of research, interviews, and consultation with counterterrorism officials and experts from around the world, the report presents recommendations for reshaping UN counterterrorism efforts by:

(1) creating a broader movement against terrorism, involving not only states but also a range of other actors;

(2) strengthening engagement in the field and at UN headquarters with human rights experts and civil society;

(3) placing greater emphasis on measuring its own performance; and

(4) enacting one of three options for architectural adjustments to streamline UN counterterrorism efforts and improve monitoring, political analysis, and capacity building. These options are: a UN Counter-Terrorism Coordinator; a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism; or an Under Secretary-General for Transnational Threats.

To view the report click here

The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation held a closed-door lunchtime discussion in New York onMainstreaming Human Rights Compliant Interrogation Skills in East African Countries. This session brought together representatives of UN member states and UN agencies such as CTED and CTITF to discuss how to encourage innovative approaches to integrating respect for human rights into counterterrorism efforts worldwide.  The meeting focused on a training seminar organized by the Center and the IGAD Security Sector Program in October 2011 in Kampala, Uganda, which provided specialist training to interrogators from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.  Discussions in New York explored insights from the Kampala session on integrating human rights protection and counterterrorism, which the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy recognizes as “not conflicting goals, but complementary and mutually reinforcing.” Panelists included Mr. Tom Parker, former Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Crimes against Humanity Investigation Unit; Ms. Liat Shetret, Programs Officer, Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation; and Mr. Tony Camerino, former senior military interrogator in the team that tracked down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Please see our Winter 2011/2012 – East Africa Newsletter here for additional information regarding the training session in Kampala.

On 26 January 2012, at the invitation of the Danish Foreign Ministry, the Center’s Co-Director James Cockayne briefed the European Union Council’s counterterrorism configuration on possible counterterrorism strategies for East Africa. Cockayne highlighted the work of the IGAD Security Sector Program, and the Center’s collaborations with IGAD on the ground over the last four years. With the region going through a period of sustained but fragile growth, Cockayne emphasized the need for a coordinated strategy amongst donors, linking counterterrorism efforts to regional growth and development based on the rule of law. Programming, he argued, should focus on confidence building, institutional strengthening of police, FIU arrangements and human rights protections, and long-term, mutually accountable partnerships between donors and local actors guided by the OECD’s Paris Principles. With numerous external actors engaged in the region, and new ones (such as the Global Counterterrorism Forum) arriving, strategic coordination amongst donors will be key.

Click here to read the briefing summary.