OSCE organizes seminar on countering use of Internet for terrorist purposes in Turkmenistan

A two-day seminar on countering the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes, organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat and the OSCE Secretariat’s Action against Terrorism Unit, began on 5 April 2018 in Ashgabat.

Some 40 participants, including representatives of the parliament of Turkmenistan and the national Ombudsman office as well as prosecutors, judges, investigators and law-enforcement officers, are considering issues related to the international legal and human rights frameworks on countering the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.

The topics of discussion include strategies for regulating the Internet and combatting violent extremist content online, developing special investigative skills in computer forensics and utilizing advanced methods to collect, document and retrieve relevant digital evidence stored on computers or mobile devices while upholding human rights and the rule of law.  

“The use of the Internet for terrorist purposes creates both challenges and opportunities in the countering terrorism and its various manifestations,” said Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat Natalya Drozd. “The seminar offers national authorities an overview of how different States address the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes. It aims at providing guidance on the application of current legal frameworks and practices at the national and international levels relating to the criminalization, investigation and prosecution of the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.” “Terrorists use the Internet for the incitement, recruitment and training, as well as for the planning, communication and execution of acts of terrorism. This seminar will help build the capacity of national judges, prosecutors, and investigators to effectively respond and investigate such cases”, she added.

Twelve international experts from Germany, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, the United States, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Anti-Terrorism Centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will exchange experiences on the current trends of modern communications technologies used for terrorist objectives. They will also share good practices in promoting a comprehensive approach to preventing the use of the Internet as a facilitator of terrorist and violent extremist activities, and the role of media in these processes.

The seminar will provide an opportunity to build networks among the national stakeholders in Turkmenistan and reinforce inter-agency co-operation in countering the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes in the country.  Earlier this week, the OSCE also convened a two-day seminar entitled “Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism: a Whole-of-Society Approach” in Ashgabat.