Violence and Security

UN Agent: Anti-Terrorism Measures Feed Islamophobia

June 21, 2017

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism Mutuma Ruteere blamed "hate speech and security measures" against Islamic extremism for contributing to racism and Islamophobia and pushed for anti-terrorism measures to focus on economic inequality.
IS Leverages Anti-Muslim Violence for Extremist Purposes

June 20, 2017

The Islamic State (IS) is adeptly leveraging anti-Muslim violence such as the recent UK van attack against mosque worshipers in London's Finsbury Park to justify dissemination of extremist views and perpetration of jihadi violence.
Al-Shabaab Sustains African Jihadi Campaign

June 20, 2017

Al-Shabaab continues to live up to its designation by security experts as Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group with its second high-casualty attack against civilians within a week in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, as part of the group's unrelenting jihadi war to impose sharia law throughout East Africa.
UN Reports on Surge in Civilian Casualties in Raqqa

June 19, 2017

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has warned that a precipitous spike in civilian casualties due to the escalation in airstrikes by the US-backed Arab and Kurdish forces fighting to capture the Islamic State's (IS) Syrian capital city of Raqqa is producing huge refugee outflows and internally displaced persons from northeastern Syria.
Experts: Policies to Counter Islamism Need an Overhaul

June 19, 2017

Experts in security strategy are seeking a paradigm shift in policies to counter Islamist extremism away from the overwhelming emphasis on countering violence and terrorism toward a primary focus on policies that reject the notion of Islamist partners whose theological commitments are incompatible with pluralism and rule of law.
Islamism, Organized Crime Converge in Latin America

June 19, 2017

The Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah has established a sophisticated network of organized criminal activities in Latin America to finance the dissemination of radical Islamist ideology and possible terrorist operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
UNESCO Chief Seeks "Magic Formula" for Intercultural Peace

June 15, 2017

At the recent UN World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Azerbaijan, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called for world leaders to find the "magic formula" for encouraging people to coexist and for constructing "inclusive and resilient" societies.
UK, France Pledge Action on "Extremist" Speech

June 14, 2017

Raising questions about the breadth of European government plans to tackle "extremist" content on the internet, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed at a recent meeting to launch a joint campaign to punish social media companies for failure to tackle "online radicalization."
IS Resists US Cyberweapons

June 14, 2017

Islamic State (IS) cyber technologies and strategies for radicalization, recruitment, financing, and planning have proven remarkably resilient and adaptable against American efforts to use cyber techniques to impede the spread of Islamist ideas and the execution of IS terrorist operations.
Germany Arrests Suspected IS Media Leader

June 14, 2017

German authorities have arrested a Syrian man who entered the country almost two years ago as a suspected key actor in the Islamic State's (IS) news agency Amaq, pointing to the robust presence of IS media operations in Western Europe and to IS's expanding capacity to use diverse media in a global strategy to expand radical Islamism.