UNOG-DCAF Seminar: “Violent Extremism Online – a Challenge to Peace and Security”

Ambassador Guerber,
Mr. Deen,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen:

A warm welcome to this 13th edition of the joint seminar series between the UN Office at Geneva and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. This seminar series reflects our longstanding and close collaboration, or as we would say on social media: Hashtag GoingStrong.

Our seminars have in the past raised awareness for pressing issues faced by the international community. In the same spirit, today, you will be discussing violent extremism online and the challenges it poses to peace and security.

Last year was challenging in many ways including recurrent terrorist attacks in different corners of the world, which left people feeling vulnerable. Some reacted with anger, and social media provided an accessible tool to some to voice this anger in the form of hate. A vicious circle could be observed: as Security Council resolution 2178 and General Assembly resolution 70/291 acknowledge, violent extremism can be conducive to terrorism. And when people respond with extremism to terrorism, the risk of further incitement to terrorism rises. We have seen this happen among different groups across religions, national, ethnic or other backgrounds. This circle must be broken. Reason, solidarity and collaboration must prevail, and we are here today to discuss how we can make them prevail in today’s digital age.

The internet has created an entirely new space for interaction. And as this space grows larger, the international community increasingly realizes the need to protect it. The internet – perhaps more than other spaces – shows that when traditional state actors do not govern it, others step in. This can be effective and beneficial as the bottom up approach of the internet has shown. Crowd-sourced programmes and peer-review mechanisms have fostered innovation in many areas of the online world. But this process has also provided pockets in which violent extremists and crime strive. Violent extremists assert themselves in cyber-space to radicalize, recruit and raise funds. Terrorist and violent extremist communications on the “dark web” or through encrypted messaging applications have also increased.

The United Nations has not ignored this challenge. In 2006, the Secretary-General formally announced the establishment of the Internet Governance Forum and since then, regular conferences of this multi-stakeholder initiative have discussed a myriad of topics on internet governance. While questions of access and the digital divide were dominating the most recent Internet Governance Forum in December 2016, issues such as privacy and data protection, freedom of expression, jurisdiction, network neutrality, cybersecurity, cybercrime, content policy and many others connected to violent extremism and its prevention were discussed across sessions.

Here in Geneva, in June of last year, the Human Rights Council stressed “the importance of combating advocacy of hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination or violence on the Internet” and called “upon all States to address security concerns on the Internet in accordance with their international human rights obligations.” [A/HRC/32/L.20].

And in April 2016, we held the Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism at the Palais des Nations, where the Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism was discussed. The PVE Plan of Action focuses on an upstream, preventive approach to address the drivers of violent extremism.

It includes several recommendations on strategic communications, the internet and social media [paragraph 55]. It emphasises among others that communications strategies at national and international levels should be developed and implemented in close cooperation with social media companies and the private sector. They should also be firmly rooted in human rights.

In this regard, we welcome the Security Council’s request [S/PRST/2016/ 6] for the development of a comprehensive international framework with guidelines and good practices to effectively counter, in compliance with international law, the ways in which terrorist organizations encourage, motivate, and recruit others to commit terrorist acts. The relevant UN entities will work closely together to fulfil this important task, and the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force [CTITF] established an Inter-Agency Working Group on Communications to ensure coordination and coherence among UN communications initiatives.

There are already a number of initiatives under way on which we can build in the future. Under the comprehensive UN Foreign Terrorist Fighter Capacity Building Implementation Plan, the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre is partnering with INTERPOL in developing a joint project to analyse social media use by Foreign Terrorist Fighters and build the capacity of Member State officials in this regard. The UN Counter-Terrorism Centre is also teaming up with INTERPOL's Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore to support Member States in their efforts to prevent cyber-attacks carried out by terrorist actors and to mitigate their impact.

If we get it right, a properly governed internet is a major cross-cutting contributor to sustainable development and to more peaceful societies. But if we fail to put in place the right governance models, this enabler function can also strengthen forces which undermine progress. The question of regulating accessibility of propaganda often based on fake news while maintaining freedom of speech will continue to occupy experts here in Geneva and elsewhere. Questions of jurisdiction and accountability across countries and between Governments and the private sector need to be resolved. The next session of the Internet Governance Forum in Geneva in winter of 2017 will be a major opportunity to capitalize on the cross-cutting expertise in the unique ecosystem of International Geneva to address these and other pressing issues.

Providing alternative narratives to those of violent extremists and enhancing multi-stakeholder internet governance will require concerted efforts. I wish you fruitful discussions at today’s event on how we can achieve this through continued and strengthened partnerships.

Thank you very much.