Despite an overall fall in the impact of terrorism across the world last year, it remains a significant and serious problem in many countries, according to a study launched this morning. Some 63 countries in 2019 recorded at least one death from a terrorist attack; and 17 countries recorded over 100. Afghanistan and Nigeria saw the most, each over 1000, according to the Global Terrorism Index by the Sydney-based think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace.
In 2019, deaths from terrorism fell for a fifth consecutive year, after a peak in 2014. The total number of deaths fell, by 15.5 per cent to 13,826. That was mirrored by a reduction in the impact of terrorism, as 103 countries recorded an improvement on their GTI score, compared to 35 that recorded a worsening, in terms not only of deaths, but incidents, injuries, and property damage, over a five-year period, says the Institute.
The largest fall in the impact of terrorism occurred in Afghanistan, which recorded 1,654 fewer deaths from terrorism in 2018, a 22.4 per cent decrease from the year before. Afghanistan remains the country most impacted by terrorism, having overtaken Iraq in 2018. Nigeria recorded the second largest reduction in deaths from terrorism in 2019, with the number falling from 2,043 to 1,245, a 39.1 per cent reduction. The largest increase in deaths from terrorism was in Africa; in Burkina Faso, where deaths rose from 86 to 593, due to Islamist terror groups.
The report described a surge in far-right political terrorism in the last five years as a more worrying trend, though the absolute number of far-right attacks remains low.
The Institute suggests that nations need to address terrorist recruitment methods and motivation of recruits, by promoting social and economic inclusion. The report covers regions and countries, trends in Islamist and extreme right terror, and features a ‘Terrorism and Security Impact Bonds’ idea, by Lord Browne of Ladyton; and Sir Adam Thomson, and Ben Challis, of the European Leadership Network (ELN). It suggests that by such bonds ‘private sector investors can enable projects in areas where government is either unable or unwilling to take responsibility for initiating and driving projects to address specific security risks’. The ELN is trialling projects to provide proof of concept.
An article on covid-19 by Milo Comerford of the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue argues that terror groups are ‘opportunistically using the pandemic to advance their movements and ideologies. A range of malign actors have been using COVID-19 as a ‘wedge issue’ to promote conspiracy theories, target minority communities and outsider groups, contest government legitimacy and call for extreme violence’.
About the GTI
This eighth edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is based on a database, collected and collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland. It contains over 170,000 terrorist incidents from 1970 to 2019. For the 109-page document visit https://www.economicsandpeace.org/reports/.
Separately, according to a new START research brief, victims who are targeted in mass casualty events differ significantly from those who are targeted in typical hate crimes (violent and non-violent). More at the START website.
