ALMATY, Kazakhstan

On 18-20 December 2023, UNRCCA and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) organized the third regional conference on the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network for Central Asia. The Early Warning Network is designed to intensify and to systematize exchange of information, and to coordinate the work of different national and regional entities operating in Central Asia and covering issues related to extremism and terrorism, including ones linked to Afghanistan.

Opening the regional conference, the Special Representative of Secretary-General for Central Asia, Head of UNRCCA, Kaha Imnadze, indicated that taking into consideration the global and regional challenges to security and stability “creation of the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network fully corresponds to the interests of the Central Asian states and other UN Member States as well as to the mandate and tasks of UNRCCA”.

As part of the Early Warning Network mechanism, the Central Asian representatives shared information on the efforts of their respective countries in the field of counter-terrorism. Furthermore, the discussion focused on the situation in Afghanistan as a significant factor for stability in the wider region. Besides, research on online propaganda and religious radicalization, conducted under the Early Warning Network, was presented by the group of national experts. Participants also discussed data analysis and indicators, as well as the workplan for 2024.

Among more than 50 participants were the representatives of state institutions and civil society organizations of all five Central Asian states as well as independent experts. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 1267/1989/2253 and 1988 Sanctions Committees of the UN Security Council, the Anti-Terrorism Centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS ATC), the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO RATS), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), other UN entities and regional partners were also taking part in the meeting.

This conference, supported by the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF), was organized under the joint UNRCCA/UNOCT 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.