TERMEZ, Uzbekistan

On 15-19 September, as part of the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network for Central Asia initiative, UNRCCA and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan conducted a regional training course on risk assessment and indicators with particular focus on border communities. It was supported by the Government of the People’s Republic of China through the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF).

The training course was designed to help the participants of the Central Asian member states to understand the components of disinformation campaigns to detect the jihadist movements’ online propaganda and to counter radicalization of the communities, particularly the youth. Using cutting-edge methods, the participants discussed examples of several disinformation campaigns, analyzed the contexts they created as well as their causes and effects. They also investigated ways to develop adequate response policies. An important part of the course was dedicated to the systematic use of indicators to monitor the online propaganda activities of jihadist movements, using analytical tools and technologies in Central Asia and Afghanistan.

The training course was preceded by exchange of information on the latest developments in Central Asia and Afghanistan, which covered such areas as security, human rights and humanitarian situation; political and socio-economic dynamics as well as cooperation between Central Asia and Afghanistan in specific areas such as development of regional infrastructure projects. Participants also had the opportunity to learn about the work of civil society organizations in the field of early warning in Southeast Asia, as presented by the international non-governmental organization “Nonviolent Peaceforce” from the Philippines.

The training course took place in the Airitom free economic zone at the border with Afghanistan near Termez, Uzbekistan. It gathered around 60 representatives (in-person and online) of state institutions and civil society organizations, including ones working with border communities, of all five Central Asian states as well as independent experts. Furthermore, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Monitoring Team of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committees, the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Uzbekistan, the Anti-Terrorism Centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS ATC) and other regional partners were present at the meeting.

This training was organized under the joint UNOCT/UNRCCA project “Towards a Comprehensive Implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia – Phase IV” and based on the Joint Plan of Action for the Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia. It was part of series of training courses conducted since the launch of the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network for Central Asia in 2022.