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.

News

Enhancing counterterrorism networks in West Africa

24 September 2024

The West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group (WA WG) will continue to foster strong counterterrorism networks in the region to tackle terrorism and implement its 2024-2026 work plan. Read more »

Building Resilience: Reflections from the GCTF REMVE Toolkit Workshop on Challenges in the Nordic Countries

19-20 June 2024

The Awareness Raising & Operationalizing the GCTF "Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE)”* Toolkit Initiative leads, the United States and Norway, recently held a two-day workshop, hosted by Norway, 19-20 June 2024, in Oslo and at Utøya, where a far right extremist on 22^nd July 2011 conducted domestic terrorist attacks that killed 77 individuals.

The interactive workshop brought a variety of stakeholders together to further enhance the GCTF REMVE Toolkit’s good practices and recommendations. The interactive workshop allowed participants to exchange perspectives on the rapidly evolving REMVE threats conducive to terrorism and draw lessons learned from Nordic countries’ experiences with REMVE.

Identifying the Key Counterterrorism Capacity Needs in West Africa

11-13 June 2024

The West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group (WA WG) Co-Chairs, Algeria and Germany, hosted the WA WG’s Fifth Plenary Meeting in Cotonou, Benin from 11 to 13 June 2024, with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as their implementing partner. The meeting brought together regional and international partners to consult on the priority areas for counterterrorism capacity-building in the region for the coming two years.

Exploring Terrorist Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its Impact on Transnational Threats and Unmanned Systems

11 and 12 June 2024

On 11 and 12 June, the GCTF Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems and New, Emerging, and Disruptive Technologies Initiative held a virtual exploratory dialogue on the terrorist use of AI and its impact on transnational threats and unmanned systems. The dialogue is a foundation to support international partners in their counterterrorism work by increasing understanding of threats and identify appropriate mitigations.

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Activities

Sahel Region Moving Forward on Border Security

11-12 May 2016

The workshop built on the UNCCT-UNCTED 2013 Rabat Conference, the Inaugural Conference of the UNCCT-GCTF BSI in El Jadida (July 2105), as well as good practices compiled at the experts meeting in Cairns, Australia (August 2015), in Vienna, Austria (September 2015) and the UNCCT-GCTF BSI First Regional Workshop on the Horn of Africa in Nairobi, Kenya (December 2015).

The objective of the workshop was to bring together border officials from countries in the region and international border security and management experts to further discuss identified challenges and potential good practices in the area of cross-border cooperation. The discussions helped the development of a global non-binding good practices document. These good practices will be presented and adopted at the Tenth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting and the Seventh Ministerial Plenary Meeting in New York in September 2016.

Key themes of discussion included:

Improved border security and management will impact the national security of countries in the Sahel region.
Interagency and cross-border cooperation is key for an effective BSM policy.
There is need for improved capacities and coordination of capacity-building programs in the field of BSM in the Sahel region.
Improved emphasis on legal framework and administrative mechanisms at national level is key for a structured national BSM approach.
Border demarcation issues affect overall border security and management measures.
Engagement with border communities is a key contributor to effective border security and management.

Tags: Border Security Initiative BSI Sahel Region Dakar Sahel Senegal

Expert Workshop on the Implementation of Rabat Good Practices 12-15 in the Sahel Region

ALGIERS - Algeria - The Co-Chairs of the Sahel Capacity Building (Sahel) Working Group, Algeria and Canada, in collaboration with the Co-Chairs of the Criminal Justice and Rule of Law (CJ-ROL) Working Group, Egypt and the United States (US), organized a workshop focusing on the Rabat Memorandum’s good practices related to legal frameworks as a way to promote rule of law-compliant responses to terrorism in the Sahel region.

UN Counter-Terrorism Centre – GCTF Border Security Initiative Regional Workshop on the Horn of Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – Under the auspices of the joint United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) – GCTF Border Security Initiative (BSI), the Government of Kenya hosted the first Regional Workshop on the Horn of Africa (HOA), on 3-4 December 2015, in Nairobi.

Lessons learned on artificial intelligence and...

Consolidating stakeholder input and insights to...

Training practitioners on motivational...

Rehabilitating and reintegrating violent extremist...

Consolidating efforts to prevent and counter...