Topic: 2025 – Reducing Recruitment Capabilities of Terrorist Groups
Country: Bangladesh
Delegate Name: Henry Walser
Disarmament and International Security Committee
Reducing the Recruitment Capabilities of Terrorist Groups
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Henry Walser
Forest Hills Northern
Terrorist groups throughout the world recruit people through many ways, including social media, prisons, and schools allowing for more organized bigger attacks around the world. Online recruitment specifically has been becoming more and more of a problem. After 9/11, online forums have been used heavily for recruitment, and online radicalization. This increase in recruitment, which thrives in low-income communities, has weakened economies, increased attacks, and created more uncertainty in day-to-day life. But this isn’t just a regional problem. Recruitment occurs across borders and therefore needs to be stopped by the collective efforts of all countries involved. The U.S. Department of State designates 81 entities as FTOs (foreign terrorist organizations) spread throughout the world. Meaning radicalization must be stopped across the world, not just in one region or even continent. The UN has done things in the past to limit the power of terrorist organizations, such as creating the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (2006). This is a unified framework that improves education and prevents radicalization to limit the influence of terrorist groups.This being said, Bangladesh has a large amount of rural poverty and dense cities, an ideal place for recruitment. Because of this Bangladesh believed that more needs to be done. Recruitment is the core of all terrorist organizations; if recruitment is limited, so are attacks.
Bangladesh has had experience with terrorism in the past, with groups such as Ansar al-Islam. An illegal terrorist group within Bangladesh that were responsible for many attacks between 2013-15. These groups often target teens online who come from poor areas. Using online forums or encrypted apps. In light of these challenges, Bangladesh has a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism. In 2009, the Bangladesh government passed the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) Allowing Bangladesh to criminalize terrorist financing as well as restrict and monitor online radicalization. They also established a Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit. This helped limit radicalization through community policing, educational programs, religious leader engagement, and by monitoring online spaces. Internationally, Bangladesh also has influence as it is a part of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). They co-chaired GCTF’s ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ working group from 2016–2020 helping to limit youth radicalization. Additionally they work with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). Bangladesh works to continue helping in the fight against terrorism as it works with neighboring countries such as India and Nepal. As well as contribute on a more international scale to limit radacalization.
As online recruitment strategies evolve online more must be done to limit terrorist groups and their influence. Around the world, the current regulation on extremist messaging simply isn’t enough as new recruitment channels appear faster than they are taken down. This, in combination with the lack of digital literacy education in low-income communities, further allows terrorist groups to abuse the internet. Bangladesh suggests an expansion of the pre-existing UNOCT. This expansion would bring youth education programs focused on digital literacy and spreading awareness on these issues before they are influenced by online radicalization they may be exposed to. This expansion would also create a UN-run database to track online extremism and online recruitment tactics. This would be funded through standard UN assessed contributions and supplemented by voluntary NGOs. Immediate action must be taken in order to stop these terrorist groups, and Bangladesh believes destroying their online presence will stop them in their tracks. Bangladesh also hopes to eradicate these groups within the next decade as their flow of new recruits is cut off.
