A UN committee on counter-terrorism notes that the Coronavirus “pandemic has exacerbated many pre-existing issues and challenges that shape the terrorist threat landscape” and terrorists and violent extremists have sought to “exploit pandemic-related sociocultural restrictions, including their efforts to recruit, radicalize, and organize via virtual platforms”.
The committee report quotes the most recent report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities suggests that “where pandemic-related restrictions have artificially and temporarily suppressed the threat of terrorism, their easing may result in an increase in terrorist violence”.
The December, 2021 report of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) is titled ‘The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on terrorism, counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism’.
The Directorate, established by the UN Security Council, is an expert body to support the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee in areas such as legislative drafting, the financing of terrorism, border and customs controls, police and law enforcement, refugee and migration law, arms trafficking, and maritime and transportation security.
It says terrorist groups across ideological spectrums “are already seeking to exploit social alienation and grievances rising from pandemic-related measures and perceived State excesses by weaponizing those divisions”. As new pandemic-related social restrictions result in closures of educational institutions, reduced employment and entertainment opportunities, and curtailed community programmes, “there are concerns that resilience against violent extremism conducive to terrorism in fragile communities might be reduced, thereby making individuals more vulnerable to radicalization to violence in such settings”.
In conflict zones where the threat of terrorism is predominant, the pandemic appears to have had limited impact on terrorist activity, allowing pre-existing trends of violence conducted by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, and Al-Qaida affiliates to continue, the report points out.
Terrorists and violent extremists have also sought to exploit pandemic-related sociocultural restrictions that have led people around the world to spend increasing time online, by strengthening their efforts to spread propaganda, recruit, and radicalize via virtual platforms (including gaming platforms). The report recommends collecting more data “regarding this pandemic-related terrorist and violent extremist activity (particularly online)” in order to assess the long-term impacts of those recruitment and radicalization to violence efforts.
The report cautions all countries, especially those facing the threat of terrorism, including Islamist terrorism, that “where pandemic-related restrictions have artificially and temporarily suppressed the threat of terrorism, their easing may result in an increase in terrorist violence”.
The Directorate will in the new year assess the terror threats during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods with specific case studies. It says there is limited data on the “long-term impacts of recruitment and radicalization efforts, and further research is required to understand any correlation between pandemic-related impacts and increases in terrorist violence”.
The report places its study in the current atmosphere where pandemic-related counter-terrorism trends overlap across regions. “Social restrictions, including closure of civic spaces, has made it hard for civil society organizations (CSOs) and other non-State actors engaged in countering violent extremism (CVE) to conduct programmatic interventions (including gender-related interventions) in communities vulnerable to radicalization to violence. Economic downturns have exacerbated existing grievances, increased humanitarian needs, and simultaneously led to an erosion in trust in Government. Some States have used pandemic-related restrictions to curb dissent and proliferate emergency measures, thereby raising legitimate human rights concerns.”
It refers to how the pandemic has exposed social inequities and structural challenges of countries and how terrorists and their affiliates can exploit these inequities. The report asserts that the counter-terrorism community should seek to address the threats of terrorism and violent extremism in a post-pandemic world based on the principles of cooperation, shared responsibility, and enhanced multilateralism. “Existing policies and measures should therefore be adapted in order to ensure an adequate response to evolving challenges.”
According to the report, the imposition of pandemic restrictions is leading to social unrest in several countries. “Entire regions have suffered severe setbacks, risking the reversal of socio-economic progress. These economic impacts have also increased humanitarian needs, while travel restrictions have simultaneously curtailed humanitarian access and outreach. These economic impacts have also necessitated the diversion of existing resources from counterterrorism training and other capacity-building measures in some States. Decreased funding risks a retrenchment in counter-terrorism measures and security assistance, creating further challenges for States most at risk from terrorism, which typically require such assistance. Further, in fragile States already facing governance challenges, terrorist recruitment strategies based on economic factors may have an increasing impact.”
Referring to the links between vaccination and terrorism, the report says that in many parts of the world, lack of access to vaccines caused by unequal distribution have left millions still vulnerable to the virus, allowing deadly variants to emerge and spread globally. “Vaccine nationalism, growing transnational and domestic vaccination divides (often fuelled by misinformation and conspiracy theories) have continued to drive local and regional outbreaks. The resulting inequities could be exploited by terrorists and violent extremist groups in the future.”
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