On 11 June 2025, Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and the Executive Director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Ms. Naureen Chowdhury Fink, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The MoU provides for close cooperation between CTED and GIFCT in technical areas set forth in United Nations Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism, especially those which address the misuse of information and communications technologies (ICT) and other emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, such as recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as the financing planning and preparation of their activities. The Security Council has specifically recognized the efforts of the industry-led GIFCT in resolutions 2395 (2017), 2396 (2017), 2617 (2021), calling for the GIFCT to continue to increase engagement with governments and technology companies globally. The Counter-Terrorism Committee also takes note of GIFCT initiatives in the Delhi Declaration on Countering the Use of New and Emerging Technology for Terrorist Purposes, adopted on 29 October 2022.
Building upon the close strategic cooperation established in past years, the cooperation between the two entities has now been brought to a new level. Conscious of the increased risk of terrorist activities being conducted through misuse of the Internet, social media platforms, and related online spaces CTED and GIFCT will, inter alia, cooperate in areas of research and activity on strategic, political, technical, legal, institutional and security issues related to ICT and counter-terrorism. The GIFCT has also recently joined the CTED-led Global Research Network (GRN), further strengthening collaboration and interoperability.
During their meeting, ASG Gherman and Executive Director Chowdhury Fink discussed the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation between States, the private sector, and civil society to develop and implement more effective means to prevent and counter harmful use of ICT. They also agreed that GIFCT, in coordination with CTED, will organize a side event on “Online subcultures, youth exploitation and the shifting landscape of terrorism”, to be held on the margins of the opening of the 80th UN General Assembly session.