Violence and Security

IS Sleeper Cells Hunker down in Remote Iraqi Villages

July 16, 2018

Fighters from Iraq’s anti-Islamic State (IS) Popular Mobilization Units report that sleeper cells of IS fighters have hunkered down in remote Iraqi villages to avoid capture, indicating the militants’ commitment to long-term resilience in jihadi activities with the goal of forming an Islamist caliphate in IS former core territories.
Instability in Syria Poses Double Islamist Threat to Israel

July 16, 2018

The continuing evolution of facts on the ground in the seven-year war in Syria has the potential to squeeze Israel between two Islamist extremist threats, from Sunni-majority Hamas in Gaza and Iran-supported, Shiite Hezbollah forces operating from Lebanon and Syria.
IS Ratchets Up Pre-Election Violence in Pakistan

July 16, 2018

Islamic State (IS) militants based in Pakistan rocked the country with another high-casualty suicide attack, the third in a week, aiming to disrupt the country's approaching national elections and signal the diverse range of Islamist extremist groups operating in the country.
UN Chief: Counter-Terrorism Efforts Must Focus on Rights

July 13, 2018

At a conference marking Counter-Terrorism Week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres discussed ways in which the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism would consider input from nongovernmental organizations on guiding countries to uphold their global human rights obligations while they combat terrorism.
UN Official: Europe Is Facing No “Refugee Crisis”

July 13, 2018

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called for the debunking of claims that Europe is experiencing any sort of “refugee crisis” caused by migrants from North Africa or the Middle East, arguing that the true crisis is present in other regions.
UN Official: Prevent Extremism Through “Citizenship Education”

July 13, 2018

At a recent event hosted by the Institute of International Education, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini emphasized how national policymakers could use the UN body’s Global Citizenship Education agenda to prevent violent extremism and counter radicalization among students across the globe.
UN Official Seeks “Gender-Sensitive” Path to Halt Extremism

July 12, 2018

In recent remarks, Åsa Regnér of UN Women calls for a “human rights-based and gender-sensitive” approach to the global prevention of violent extremism by “empowering” young women to combat extremism and including them in prevention and deradicalization efforts.
UN Agency Examines IS Propaganda Aimed at Women

July 12, 2018

UN Women has published a report examining the use of “gendered messaging” and a “false sense of empowerment” in propaganda of the Islamic State (IS) to convince women to travel to the IS caliphate and obey the terrorist group’s strict moral code, including unwavering obedience to one’s husband.
OSCE Hosts Workshops on “Hate Speech” in Montenegro

July 12, 2018

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Montenegro recently organized a pair of workshops among representatives of local public broadcasters in the country focused “on the promotion of tolerance and the prevention of hate speech in media.”
UN Agents Critique Austrian Focus on Political Islam

July 11, 2018

The UN Working Group on Mercenaries has called on Austria to avoid an “excessive” focus on punishing individuals who travel abroad to join and fight with terrorist groups and on combating political Islam as an ideology, instead emphasizing a need to “address the root causes of radicalisation and violent extremism” in a comprehensive manner.