On 8 October 2021, Assistant Secretary-General Michèle Coninsx, Executive Director of CTED, took part in a conference on “Terrorism: Phenomena – Analyses – Reactions” organized by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (BpB)).
The Executive Director participated in a panel discussion entitled “Are we facing a ‘Corona RAF’? The Future of Terrorism”.
The other panel members included Ms. Cemile Giousouf (German Federal Agency for Civic Education), Mr. Florian Flade (Research Network NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung), and Prof. Dr Peter R. Neumann (King’s College London).
The panellists discussed current and future terrorism trends, including the continued evolution of terrorist groups, their tactics and their choice of targets, as well as the resulting new and complex challenges.
Recognizing that those challenges had been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, panellists noted that terrorism also continued to exacerbate existing conflicts and threaten fragile post-conflict environments.
Ms. Coninsx stressed that, in developing future responses, the international community must reflect on its previous experiences in order to ensure that it avoids the mistakes of the past. Horizon-scanning exercises such as the BpB conference were essential tools in guiding those responses, especially as terrorist challenges often transcend jurisdictions and borders.