CT TECH regional awareness raising workshop for Central Asia and Mongolia
The Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies, implemented by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), in collaboration with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) , held a CT TECH regional awareness raising workshop for Central Asia and Mongolia on 27 September in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The workshop focused on developing national counter-terrorism policy and operational responses to counter the use of new technologies for terrorist purposes while protecting human rights. Hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan, the workshop brought together 28 officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
During the workshop, CT TECH Partner States shared their approaches to countering the use of new technologies for terrorist purposes. The UNOCT/UNCCT Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies, together with INTERPOL presented the seven knowledge products launched under CT TECH initiative during the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Week held in June 2023. The presentations also included human rights-based and gender-responsive approaches to the use of technology in counter-terrorism including in the context of countering terrorist exploitation of new technologies.
The workshop in Tashkent is the second of five CT TECH regional awareness raising workshops organized by UNOCT. The next workshop will be convened in October in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, for CT TECH Partner States from Europe and MENA region.
The CT TECH initiative was launched in 2022 as a joint UNOCT/UNCCT and INTERPOL undertaking, implemented under UNOCT/UNCCT Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies and funded by the European Union. It aims to strengthen the capacities of law enforcement and criminal justice authorities to counter the exploitation of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, as well as support the leveraging of new and emerging technologies in the fight against terrorism.