Last month, ICCT convened an Expert Meeting on Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia in Brussels, where ICCT Visiting Fellow Daveed Gartenstein-Ross presented the findings of his research.

Mr. Akinola Olojo started this week as Visiting Research Fellow at ICCT - The Hague. Akinola hails from Lagos, Nigeria and will conduct a project investigating the drivers for radicalisation in northern Nigeria with a special focus on Boko Haram.

In order to explore innovative and practical options for the development of a curriculum for a rule-of-law institute to be set up shortly in Tunis, ICCT co-convened a workshop together with the Institute for Security Studies and the Centre on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation. 

ICCT's April Newsletter is now online! Read about latest publications, upcoming events and meeting reports. 

The summary of the seminar "Terrorists on Trial: The Case of Anders Behring Breivik" is now available online.

Meeting report of the ICCT-CLEER conference entitled "The External Dimensions of EU Counter-Terrorism Policy" is now available online.

The ICCT - The Hague March newsletter is out now! You will find information about our latest publications, upcoming events and our new visiting fellow.

The ICCT February newsletter is now online! You will find information about upcoming events, latest publications and more.

From 26 - 30 August, ICCT - The Hague together with the T.M.C. Asser Instituut organises a summer course on countering terrorism in the post-9/11 world. Building on the success of the previous years, the programme will be delivered by a team of international and national leading experts in the field of counter-terrorism.

Following the recent declaration of a state of emergency in parts of northern Nigeria, the government of President Goodluck Jonathan has once again reinforced its militaristic position against the sectarian group, Boko Haram. In this Commentary ICCT Visiting Research Fellow, Mr. Akinola Olojo discusses the available options in Nigeria and the contradictions of state policy thus far. 

During the first US Congressional hearing on the Marathon bombings and in media reports, Boston’s police commissioner, Mr. Edward F. Davis III, advocated for stronger visual monitoring of public spaces. In this Commentary, ICCT Research Fellow Dr. Quirine Eijkman asks the question whether more visual surveillance, such as Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, and recognition technologies would have led to the prevention of the bombing in the first place. 

Are our current legal paradigms and rules sufficiently equipped to deal with contemporary terrorism threats? This Research Paper addresses a number of key questions which relate for example to the temporal and geographical limitations of armed conflicts as well as human rights and the use of drones in counter-terrorism operations.

While Western governments are still deliberating whether to arm the Syrian opposition, hundreds of young European jihadists have already joined the opposition’s ranks and are fighting on the ravaged streets of Aleppo and Damascus. The exodus of young European jihadists, men as well as women, is inundating Western intelligence services. 

Based on an in-depth literature review, ICCT Visiting Research Fellow Dr. Alex P. Schmid explores the terms ‘radicalisation’, ‘de-radicalisation’ and ‘counter-radicalisation’ and the discourses surrounding them in greater detail. In addition to the history of those concepts, the paper explores what we know well and what we know less well about radicalisation, and how this impacts upon various counter-radicalisation and deradicalisation programmes, before concluding with a series of policy recommendations. 

Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia (AST) is the most prominent jihadist organisation in Tunisia. While the group currently employs more peaceful tactics than violent ones, AST's focus may soon shift to a more overtly violent strategy. An important dynamic in this potential shift is the group's considerable international connections, as ICCT Visiting Fellow Daveed Gartenstein-Ross argues.