BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan 

On 13-14 November 2019, the regional training course “Countering the use of the Internet for propaganda and recruitment purposes in Central Asia” organized by the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center within the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNCCT- UNOCT) took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Government officials responsible for counter-terrorism and intelligence matters, practitioners, civil society organizations and experts from Central Asian countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia came together to deepen professional dialogue between countries of the region, enhance knowledge and share experience regarding good practices in countering the use of the Internet for propaganda and recruitment purposes in Central Asia.

Over two days, more than forty participants were engaged in interactive discussions on approaches and technologies in addressing challenges related to extremism and terrorism in the cyber space. They also obtained specific information on the technical and legal aspects of countering the use of Internet for terrorist purposes.

The curricula of this course was developed based on the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) assessment, following the visit to Central Asia in the fall 2017, and requests expressed by Central Asian countries.

The training course was organized under the third phase of the joint UNRCCA and UNCCT-UNOCT project “Towards the Implementation of the Joint Plan of Action for the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia”.