Live Webinar: Strengthening Counter-Terrorism Border Security – Operational Reflections: Border Community Dynamics
Wednesday 8th July 2026
10am EST / 3pm UK / 4pm CET
The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), through the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), implements the global Border Security and Management (BSM) programme to support Member States in preventing and countering terrorism and related transnational organized crime, including the movement of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), cross land, air and maritime borders. The Programme responds to persistent and evolving threats exploiting porous borders, weak governance, limited inter-agency coordination, and insufficient integration of counter-terrorism elements into national border management systems.
The BSM Programme is anchored in Pillar II of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (A/RES/60/288) and operationalizes binding obligations under key United Nations Security Council resolutions, notably UNSCR 1373 (2001), 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017) and 2482 2019). These instruments require Member States to prevent terrorist travel through effective order controls, evidence-based risk assessment and screening, information-sharing, and the responsible use of technologies such as biometrics, Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, while ensuring compliance with human rights and the rule of law.
Against this normative backdrop, the revised BSM Programme (BSM 2.0) builds on lessons learned from the initial implementation period (2019–2025) and responds to an increasingly complex security environment characterized by the convergence of terrorism, transnational organized crime, illicit trafficking, irregular migration flows and emerging technologies. BSM 2.0 adopts a structured, multi-year approach centred on four mutually reinforcing outcome areas: (i) cooperation and coordination; (ii) capacity-building and training; (iii) policy and strategy development; and (iv) technology and risk-based approaches, with human rights, gender mainstreaming, and community engagement embedded as cross-cutting principles.
This webinar is designed to consolidate learning and critically examine one of the most complex pillars of BSM implementation: the operational implications of the border community dynamics for counter-terrorism-oriented border governance, information-sharing, and cross-border cooperation. The webinar is practitioner-led, leverages ToT alumni as co-presenters, and is supported by strategic partners, including UNITAR, UNODC, IOM, and INTERPOL, with a view to inform subsequent support, mentoring, and guidance activities under future phases of the Programme.
