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Presentation: The Global Terrorism Index (GTI)

March 9, 2022
Related topics: 
Security & Defense
Terrorism
Africa
Sahel

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is an annual report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP). Now on its 9th edition, the GTI provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism. It analyses a number of vital aspects of terrorism such as the socio-economic conditions under which it occurs, how terrorism changes over time, the geopolitical drivers and ideological aims of terrorist groups and the strategies used by terrorists.

In the previous edition, the GTI 2020 reported a decrease in deaths from terrorism for a fifth consecutive year. The drop of deaths by 15.5% was due to a reduction on the impact of terrorism in 103 countries. The decrease in deaths from terrorism was perceived in the MENA region, Russia, Eurasia, South America, and South Asia, with a 20% reduction. Yet terrorism became more widespread in other regions, concentrating in sub-Saharan Africa. The country with the highest increase in terrorism was Burkina Faso, followed by Sri Lanka.

Moreover, the economic impact of terrorism had decreased for five consecutive years, amounting to US$26.4 billion in 2019. The 2020 GTI identified a shifting landscape in terrorism, with the spread of ISIL affiliate groups in sub-Saharan Africa and the emergence of far-right terrorism across Western Europe and North America.

In this presentation, the panellists will discuss the trends in terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism particularly in the Sahel region.

Speakers
Rida Lyammouri
Senior Fellow
Rida Lyammouri is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South. His research activities focus on geopolitics and international relations in the West African Sahel, a region he has worked on for about a decade. He has extensive experience supporting both governmental and non-governmental organizations in the areas of international aid, development, and security. Some of the topics he covers include countering violent extremism (CVE), conflict prevention and conflict sensitivity, humanitarian access, and migration. Mr. Lyammouri has contributed to numerous in-depth research and analysis reports aiming at building deeper understanding of regional and domestic challenges. He is often solicited by various stakeholders to provide policy recommendations on how to address va ...
Serge Stroobants
Director Europe and the MENA region, Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP)
Serge Stroobants is the Director of Operations for Europe and the MENA region at the Institute for Economics and Peace. He is a former Colonel in the Belgian Armed Forces with an academic specialization in political sciences, international relations, security and defense, global risk analysis, foresight and crisis management. He holds degrees from the Belgian Royal Military Academy, the Free University of Brussels, Université Jean Moulin Lyon III (France), the German General Staff College and Vesalius College. He is an Assistant-Professor at Vesalius College in Brussels, teaching courses on NATO and the Transatlantic approaches to security and on Global terrorism and radicalization. He is considered to be a senior academic specialist on global terrorism and radicalization in B ...
Youssef Tobi
International Relations Specialist
Tobi Youssef has joined the Policy Center for the New South in 2017. He is currently working on Politics and Governance in the Maghreb Region; his areas of expertise are geopolitics, political risk and nation building. Youssef Tobi obtained a Master Degree at Sciences Po Lyon  where he wrote two thesis on “ the role of Moroccan Bank in Africa, a non-state actor in service of the Diplomacy”  and the“ Chasm between the mediatic and associative representation of refugees : a case study”.  Prior to working at the Think tank, Tobi Youssef participated in a Social Entrepreneurship Project in Beirut, Lebanon and conducted an internship in a NGO based in Marseille where he assisted refugees and helped raise funds. ...
Rama Yade
Director, Africa Center Atlantic Council
Ambassador Rama Yade is director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and senior fellow for the Europe Center. She is also a teacher of African affairs at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco and, since 2017, at Sciences Po Paris. Prior to joining the Council, she was a consultant for the World Bank, advising the institution on education, youth, sports, human capital, and disability issues in Africa. She also has strong experience in the private sector as an editor in London, where she overviewed a collection of books about African millennials, and as director for development at a French consulting firm in corporate and social responsibility. Ambassador Yade has over a decade of experience working in French, European, and international politics. At the age of thirt ...

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