Attendance of Joint Regional High-level Conference on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters – Addressing Current Challenges”, Vienna

On February 11-12, 2020 EICTP attended the two-day high-level regional counter-terrorism conference titled “Foreign Terrorist Fighters – Addressing Current Challenges” jointly organized by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and Switzerland, in cooperation with Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship in Vienna. About 500 representatives from over 50 Member States, UN entities, international organizations and bodies and civil society organizations came together to discuss approaches to address the challenges posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) returning from Syria and Iraq and other conflict areas, as well as the complex situation of women and children associated with those FTFs. Within the setting framework of this high-level event, EICTP was able to join the important discussion and to participate in dealing with the challenging issues of FTFs and their families. The conference itself is one in a series of regional conferences announced by the UN Secretary-General at the UN’s 2018 High-level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies in New York. EICTP previously attended the Regional Conference in Budapest, Hungary 2019.