Photo credit: DFATD | MAECD, “Baird Delivers Remarks at Global Counterterrorism Forum and Meeting | Le ministre Baird livre un discours à une réunion du Forum mondial de lutte contre le terrorisme,” CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Global Counter-Terrorism Forum

Abbreviation

GCTF

Summary

Founded in 2011, the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum “provides a venue for national counterterrorism (CT) officials and practitioners to meet with their counterparts from key countries in different regions to share CT experiences, expertise, strategies, capacity needs, and capacity-building programs. It prioritized civilian capacity building in areas such as rule of law, border management, and countering violent extremism.” The goal of the GCTF is “to reduce the vulnerability of people everywhere to terrorism by effectively preventing, combating, and prosecuting terrorist acts and countering incitement and recruitment to terrorism.” The GCTF consists of regional and thematic working groups. The two regional working groups are (1) Horn of Africa Region Capacity Building and (2) Sahel Region Capacity Building; the four thematic working groups are (1) Countering Violent Extremism, (2) Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law, (3) Detention and Reintegration, and (4) Foreign Terrorist Fighters.

Members

Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Partners

  • United Nations (UN)
  • UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (UN CTITF)
  • UN Counterterrorism Executive Directorate (CTED)
  • UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)
  • UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
  • UNESCO
  • Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  • UN Security Council 1267 Monitoring Team
  • African Union
  • Centre Africain d'Etudes et de Recherche sur le Terrorisme
  • Peace and Security Commission
  • Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
  • APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force
  • Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
  • Council of Europe
  • Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
  • Hedayah
  • Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
  • International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
  • INTERPOL
  • Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
  • OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit

Website

https://www.thegctf.org/

Entry drafted by PILAC Research Assistant Carson Cook, with research support from PILAC RA Svitlana Starosvit. Entry last updated: January 2015.