State of Terrorism 2023: Insights and trends towards more robust responses in preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism

The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism will hold a hybrid event on “State of Terrorism 2023: Insights and trends towards more robust responses in preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism,” on 16 March, from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm (EDT) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The global terrorist threat has become more diffuse and diverse in nature, with groups such as Da’esh and Al-Qaida being more locally based and their regional affiliates increasingly decentralized. The geographic spread and incidence of terrorist violence by Da’esh has increased across Africa, where Da’esh, its affiliates and other terrorist groups exploit local conflict dynamics and fragilities. 

The evolution of the global terrorism landscape requires robust evidence-based and data-driven responses, taking into account the complexity of the new security challenges and the need to observe fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly the right to privacy and data protection, and freedom of expression.  

The event will bring together representatives from Member States, United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities, civil society organizations, policy makers and experts. It will comprise of the following:

• A high-level strategic discussion with the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and UNOCT on the current threat landscape and existing data, trend analysis and knowledge-sharing tools available to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism.
• A presentation of the key findings from the 2023 Global Terrorism Index, by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP); and
• A presentation by UNDP on global terrorism trends and its latest series of reports on the prevention of violent extremism.

This event will provide an opportunity to explore how insights and trends analysis on terrorism could inform the development of the Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace and the ongoing discussion to articulate a long-term vision for the contribution of the United Nations to international peace and security, including in preventing and countering terrorism.