CT TECH Initiative Expert Group Meetings

From 28 February to 2 March 2023, UNOCT/UNCCT held three expert group meetings to discuss challenges and opportunities of new technologies in countering terrorism. The meetings were convened under the joint UNOCT/UNCCT-INTERPOL initiative CT TECH, funded by the European Union and implemented under the UNOCT/UNCCT Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies.

During the three days, experts from law enforcement agencies, private sector, civil society organizations, academia, regional- and international institutions discussed how to strengthen law enforcement capacities to counter the exploitation of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, as well as leverage them in the fight against terrorism, in full respect of human rights and the rule of law.

First Day

The first day of discussions focused on the law enforcement capabilities framework for new technologies in countering terrorism and guidance to first responders on collection of digital devices on the battlefield. The experts: 

• Discussed core capabilities required for national counter terrorism authorities to counter terrorist use of new technologies.
• Agreed that terrorist actors are increasingly leaving digital devices in battlefield or ungoverned spaces and stressed the need to ensure that national legal frameworks allow the collection of information in such settings, which can be admissible as evidence in criminal proceedings for counter-terrorism

Second Day

On the second day, experts discussed good practices for law enforcement cooperation with private information and communications technology companies, and the need for legislative frameworks and transparency mechanisms for online data collection by law enforcement in countering terrorism. The experts highlighted that:

• Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using and buying data from private companies for counter-terrorism investigations.
• The level of cooperation between private enterprise and law enforcement are challenged by legal constraints, limited resources, and general awareness of requirements. 
• More efforts are needed to train law enforcement on the principles of legality, proportionality, necessity and how they extend to online spaces, as well as on the impact of their actions on human rights.
• Law enforcement practices of collecting all data available online bear a risk of misuse and should be regulated to ensure better oversight and accountability.

Third Day

The last day focused on national threat assessments of terrorist exploitation of new technologies and how to design human rights compliant counter-terrorism policy responses to address challenges and opportunities of new technologies. The experts emphasized that:

• A wide range of stakeholders must be involved in threat assessments and policy development.
• Counter-terrorism policies on new technologies must comply with human rights. 
• Regulation and legislative capacities in many countries cannot match the speed of technology development. 
• Robust oversight mechanisms and remedial action for those affected by massive data collection is crucial.
• A technology-neutral framework on human rights-based approaches could be developed to help Member States have human-rights at the core of their counter-terrorism approaches.

Knowledge Products

The inputs received from the experts over the course of the meetings will inform UNOCT/UNCCT’s knowledge products on various aspects of new technologies in countering terrorism. 7 reports are slated for publication around the Counter-Terrorism Week in June 2023. These knowledge products will be used to guide capacity-building efforts when it comes to strengthening law enforcement response to the challenges and opportunities that new technologies provide in countering terrorism.