The topic of the PfP Consortium Combating Terrorism Working Group (PfPC CTWG) for the 2010 project was entitled “Homegrown Terrorism and Self-Radicalization”. The kick-off meeting took place in Sarajevo in April of this year and was hosted by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Building on the several detailed presentations made during the phase I meeting, the follow-up phase II event of the CTWG turned its attention from an examination of the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism and self-radicalization to a consideration of appropriate countermeasures to deal with this international security challenge.
Approximately thirty participants from fourteen countries of the EAPC region joined the meeting at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in September and 12 experts on terrorism gave researched presentations exploring how governments, especially Western governments, are reacting to homegrown terrorism and radicalization, while presenting some assessments of how successful these measures seem to be at present.
According to the central theme the chairman of the PfPC CTWG issued far in advance of the meeting, the end purpose of the phase II session was to suggest to policymakers and other interested parties the outline of an effective response to homegrown terrorism, including recommendations on how to reduce self-radicalization and associated phenomena that permit homegrown terrorism to proliferate.