Enhancing a Coordinated Implementation of EU-Funded Counter Terrorism Projects in the MENA Region – Delivering During Covid Times

On June 25, 2021, our Executive Director Naureen Chowdhury Fink participated in an event organized by the European Union’s Counter-Terrorism Monitoring, Reporting and Support Mechanism (CT-MORSE). The event, titled, “Enhancing a Coordinated Implementation of EU-Funded Counter Terrorism Projects in the MENA Region – Delivering During Covid Times,” gathered a team of European Union delegates focused on implementing counterterrorism and counter violent extremism projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Ms. Fink briefed the delegates on the pandemic’s impact on the counterterrorism landscape, noting that “as Western countries have dealt with the fallout from COVID-19 and shifted focus to geopolitical dynamics and great power competition” a number of counterterrorism operations have been “deemphasized.” Ms. Fink highlighted that this shift in focus has occurred at a vulnerable time in the MENA region, with the pandemic accelerating the terrorist threat as jihadists and military groups in the Sahel have “taken advantage of the region’s porous borders and high levels of corruption,” and exacerbating “already unsuitable conditions for refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraq and Syria.” The conversation additionally reaffirmed the importance of the need for further discussions on issues like ISIL accountability, the roles of women and gender, disinformation, and misuse of information and communications technologies.