ICT4Peace is pleased to announce the formal launch of its joint project with the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) on tech. sector engagement in responding to terrorist use of ICT.

Through the project, ICT4Peace and UNCTED will work with the tech. sector and civil society to deepen understanding of current industry responses to terrorist use of their products and services, particularly with regard to content and-operational related issues and identify practices and experiences.

The ultimate objective of the project is to establish a forum through which these same practices and experiences can be discussed and shared with a greater number of actors. To reach that objective, over the next twelve months a series of workshops will be held in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East with the aim of engaging industry and civil society actors from across regions. Initial progress will be presented to the UN Counter Terrorism Committee in November.

The kick-off meeting took place in Geneva within the margins of the broader Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) hosted by the government of Switzerland and the UN in Geneva on 7 and 8 April 2016. Moreover, it enjoyed the active participation of a number of industry representatives including Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Kaspersky Labs, Weibo and ASKfm, as well as representatives from UN CT and UN human rights entities, EU Home Affairs, EUROPOL’s Internet Referral Unit. Other participants included representatives from existing multi-stakeholder initiatives and think-tanks such as the Global Network Initiative, the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at Oxford’s Martin School, SECDEV Canada and the Institute for Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

Following the kick-off meeting, the project was presented to a number of governments over a working lunch. Members of the project Advisory Group also participated in an additional meeting on public-private collaboration in response to terrorist use of ICT organised by the government of Switzerland, also within the margins of the PVE conference. For further information on the project, contact Daniel Stauffacher <danielstauffacher@ict4peace.org>.