UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY AWARENESS RAISING IN AFRICA: BUILDING AN AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY

This document presents the 'Co-Chairs' Recommendations' from a workshop held in Cape Town on 24-25 June 2009. The event, hosted by the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), aimed to raise awareness of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy among African civil society organizations (CSOs) and explore ways to increase their participation in its implementation.

• The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is viewed as a critical tool for African CSOs to shift counterterrorism efforts away from a purely security-focused approach toward one that addresses underlying social, political, and economic conditions and respects human rights.
• CSOs can contribute to the implementation of the UN Strategy through several specific activities: conducting research for the UN and African Union, raising awareness of human rights-based approaches, providing capacity-building training for governments and journalists, reaching vulnerable communities, and monitoring national-level translation of the Strategy into action.
• To increase their effectiveness and credibility, African CSOs are encouraged to integrate counterterrorism activities into existing programs—such as those focused on rule of law, peacebuilding, or good governance—rather than creating separate 'counterterrorism' labels, which can be politically sensitive.
• The recommendations suggest that the United Nations should deepen its engagement with African CSOs by establishing a formal mechanism, such as a UN Strategy-CSO advisory board or a dedicated CSO focal point within the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.
• The document advises against creating new networks immediately, suggesting instead that counterterrorism be incorporated into existing African civil society networks focused on security sector reform, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding to avoid duplication and competition for funding.
• The recommendations propose using the African Peer Review Mechanism to incorporate continental standards for the implementation of the UN Strategy and advocate for a larger role for CSOs within that peer review process.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2009). UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY AWARENESS RAISING IN AFRICA: BUILDING AN AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TERROWSHOPCHAIRRECOMM9JUL09.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY AWARENESS RAISING IN AFRICA: BUILDING AN AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY. 2009. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TERROWSHOPCHAIRRECOMM9JUL09.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY AWARENESS RAISING IN AFRICA: BUILDING AN AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY |date=2009 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TERROWSHOPCHAIRRECOMM9JUL09.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2009global, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY AWARENESS RAISING IN AFRICA: BUILDING AN AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN GLOBAL COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2009}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TERROWSHOPCHAIRRECOMM9JUL09.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }