About the GCTF

The Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) is an informal, apolitical, multilateral counterterrorism platform. It is small, nimble, inclusive, and consensus-based. Its overarching mission is to reduce the vulnerability of people worldwide to terrorism by mobilizing expertise and resources to prevent, combat, and prosecute terrorist acts and counter incitement and recruitment to terrorism. 

The Forum brings together policymakers and practitioners from around the world to share experiences and expertise, and to develop practical, publicly available tools and strategies on how to prevent and counter the evolving terrorist threat. The GCTF is currently co-chaired by Egypt and the European Union. 

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What is the GCTF?

News

Understanding the risks of climate change’s relationship with violent extremism conducive to terrorism and building solutions

Understanding the risks of climate change’s relationship with violent extremism conducive to terrorism and building solutions

15 April 2025

Led by Germany and Kenya, the Initiative on Addressing the Nexus Between Climate Change and Violent Extremism conducive to terrorism held a virtual workshop exploring solutions and recommendations to consider when addressing the links between climate change and insecurity.

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Examining current evidence and approaches to the relationship between climate change and violent extremism conducive to terrorism

Examining current evidence and approaches to the relationship between climate change and violent extremism conducive to terrorism

4 March 2025

Led by Germany and Kenya, the Initiative on Addressing the Nexus Between Climate Change and Violent Extremism conducive to terrorism held a virtual workshop exploring the links between climate change and insecurity, with a focus on the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa.

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Responding to the challenges emerging from the intersection of violent extremism conducive to terrorism and climate fragility

Responding to the challenges emerging from the intersection of violent extremism conducive to terrorism and climate fragility

28 January 2025

Led by Germany and Kenya, the Initiative on Addressing the Nexus Between Climate Change and Violent Extremism conducive to terrorism held a virtual workshop exploring the links between climate change and insecurity, with a focus on violent extremism conducive to terrorism in Southeast Asia and West Africa.  

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The Visual Impact of Inspired Institution Programming in Africa

The Visual Impact of Inspired Institution Programming in Africa

6 January 2025

This map highlights the important activities carried out by the GCTF-Inspired Institutions in Africa. The map is interactive and features responsive elements that reveal more information when clicking or hovering over them.

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Activities

Seventh GCTF Ministerial Plenary Meeting

Seventh GCTF Ministerial Plenary Meeting

21 September 2016

The Seventh Ministerial Meeting took place two days after the Tenth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting, where GCTF Members reviewed the Forum’s strategic priorities, discussed progress and ongoing and planned initiatives. One of the highlights of the Coordinating Committee Meeting was the scenario based discussion – an unprecedented and innovative exercise in the CT and CVE contexts- which aimed to enhance the understanding of the life cycle of radicalization to violence and focused on the practical application of the Life Cycle Toolkit at the local, national, regional and international levels. The Toolkit is a web-based instrument designed for policy-makers and practitioners to draw guidance and inspiration in developing tailor-made responses for their own regional-, state-, and local contexts. The Toolkit will house existing and new GCTF tools that address the life cycle of radicalization to violence.

At the meeting, the Toolkit of the Initiative to Address the Life Cycle of Radicalization to Violence was officially adopted, along with new GCTF framework documents addressing various stages of the Life Cycle, as well as Good Practices in the area of border security and management in the context of counterterrorism and stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, and recommendations relating to contributions of Parliamentarians in developing an effective response to terrorism. Furthermore, the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Knowledge Hub was officially launched. The meeting also welcomed the progress made on the International Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism Capacity-Building Clearinghouse Mechanism (ICCM), a database of recent and ongoing CT and CVE capacity-building assistance, to help identify gaps in programming, de-conflict overlapping programs, and to mobilize and guide donor resources through non-binding recommendations.

In addressing the challenges of 21st century terrorism, the GCTF will embark on a set of new initiatives concerning, inter alia, the protection of soft targets, strategic communications, and the strengthening of national action plans to detect and prevent radicalization at an early stage.

Documents to download

More links

Seventh GCTF Ministerial Plenary Meeting

Seventh GCTF Ministerial Plenary Meeting

On the 21st of September the GCTF 7th Ministerial Plenary meeting will take place in New York at the Roosevelt Hotel. This will be the first Ministerial meeting under Dutch – Moroccan co-chairmanship...

Horn of Africa Capacity Building Working Group - Plenary Meeting

Horn of Africa Capacity Building Working Group - Plenary Meeting

DJIBOUTI CITY - Djibouti - The GCTF’s Horn of Africa (HOA) Capacity Building Working Group’s Fifth Plenary Meeting convened in Djibouti City, Djibouti, on 2 June 2016.

Countering Violent Extremism Working Group - The Role of Family is Critical in Preventing Violent Extremism

Countering Violent Extremism Working Group - The Role of Family is Critical in Preventing Violent Extremism

ABU DHABI - United Arab Emirates – On 23-25 May 2016, under the auspices of the GCTF’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group, Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for CVE, hosted a workshop on the P/CVE roles of families. 

The Foreign Terrorist Fighters Working Group - Plenary Meeting: Improving International Collaboration to Address the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon

The Foreign Terrorist Fighters Working Group - Plenary Meeting: Improving International Collaboration to Address the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon

MARRAKESH - Morocco - The Global Counterterrorism Forum Foreign Terrorist Fighters Working Group Plenary Meeting convened in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 17-18 May 2016. 

Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group - Workshop on Identifying and Countering Terrorist Recruiters and Facilitators

Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group - Workshop on Identifying and Countering Terrorist Recruiters and Facilitators

WASHINGTON D.C. - United States - The Criminal Justice and Rule of Law (CJ-ROL) Working Group convened an expert meeting in Washington on 25-26 April to discuss ways to identify and counter terrorist recruiters and facilitators. 

Ninth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting

Ninth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting

THE HAGUE - the Netherlands - The GCTF Coordinating Committee convened for its ninth meeting on 12-13 April 2016. Member States and representatives of the GCTF partner organizations reviewed the Forum’s strategic priorities, considered the ongoing and planned initiatives, and reviewed activities since the previous Coordinating Committee Meeting in New York, held on 25 September 2015.

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