UNOCT addresses terrorist exploitation of new technologies

Advances in digital technology have helped accelerate development and create easier and faster ways to communicate. However, the accessibility of these technologies has also made it attractive to bad actors like terrorist and violent extremist groups. These tools can be used to help with radicalization, recruitment, coordinated attacks, and terrorism financing.

To address increasing concerns over the use of technology for malicious purposes, the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) is working with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to strengthen the capacities of the Philippines to respond to these threats.

As part of a two-year project called CT Tech+ funded by the European Union, in which the UN supports 9  partner states, UNOCT held a national workshop in Manila on 4 June, bringing together 21 officials from Philippine law enforcement agencies and private technology companies to foster collaboration and information sharing to help counter technology-facilitated terrorism.

The activity focuses on an important stream of work under UNOCT’s Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies: boosting public-private partnerships on the use of new and emerging technologies to counter terrorism. By promoting this whole-of-society approach, UNOCT helps partner states further strengthen their national counter-terrorism policies and strategies, as well as local law enforcement’s technological capabilities.

The workshop, which was hosted by the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, and organized in collaboration with the Anti-Terrorism Council – Programme Management Center, served as a space to identify challenges, problems and opportunities for partnership, especially for harnessing innovative technological solutions for gathering digital data and evidence.

A key component of the workshop was scenario-based exercises to help participants explore how law enforcement agencies and the private sector can jointly respond to terrorist exploitation of online spaces and tools, such as terrorist groups’ use of social 

“The CT Tech+ Initiative has been pivotal in enhancing our national capabilities against crime and terrorism in cyberspace. This, in turn, ensures our international commitment to a safe and secure cyberspace for all,” said Undersecretary Bernardo C. Florece, Jr., Executive Director of the Anti-Terrorism Council - Program Management Center.

In addition to the sharing of resources and experiences, a critical session focused on how to ensure that law enforcement authorities’ adoption and use of digital tools is compliant with the Philippine Government’s obligations under international human rights law, particularly concerning the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.

“Effective counterterrorism measures and the protection of human rights are complementary,” said Ms. Tristan Burnett, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission and UN Philippines Resident Coordinator ad interim. “Respect for human rights and standards is an essential component of an effective counter terrorism strategy, including by building public trust and confidence, allowing space for peaceful debates, and by assisting and protecting victims of terrorism, as well as the fundamental rights of those who are suspected of committing these attacks.”

Best practices from the UNOCT handbook on establishing public-private partnerships to counter the use of new technologies for terrorism were shared to guide participants in establishing cooperation pathways between government agencies and private companies. 

UNOCT will provide the Philippine Government with a post-workshop report with recommendations on strengthening public-private partnerships for counter-terrorism efforts.

The CT Tech+ workshop was co-organized with INTERPOL, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, and funded by the European Union.