On 13-16 October, UNRCCA and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), with the support of the People’s Republic of China through the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF), organized the fifth regional conference on the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network for Central Asia. The Early Warning Network is being developed to strengthen the exchange of information, as well as to coordinate the efforts of various national and regional entities in Central Asia that address issues related to extremism and terrorism, including those related to Afghanistan.
Opening the regional conference, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Asia and Head of UNRCCA, Kaha Imnadze, highlighted the strong interest of UN Member States in this initiative, as reflected in his briefings to the Security Council and during bilateral consultations in Central Asian capitals.
As part of the Early Warning Network mechanism, representatives from Central Asia exchanged updates on their countries’ counter-terrorism efforts. The discussions also centered on the situation in Afghanistan, recognized as an important factor influencing regional stability. Furthermore, participants made proposals on how to improve the functioning of this mechanism taking into consideration new realities on the ground.
The conference was followed by a training session covering smart online search, online monitoring, data management, cybersecurity for early warning systems and other related topics. Special attention was paid to such key components of OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) and RSS (Really Simply Syndication) that allow users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized and computer-readable format. Participants also explored opportunities for leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) within the Early Warning Network.
Among more than 50 participants were the representatives of state institutions and civil society organizations of all five Central Asian states as well as independent experts. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Anti-Terrorism Centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS ATC), the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO RATS), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) also shared their expertise and perspectives on addressing the threats of extremism and terrorism in the region.
