- Events
Kidnapping and hostage-taking by terrorist and violent extremist groups has evolved into a deliberate strategic tool, used to finance operations, exert political pressure, generate propaganda, forcibly recruit, and terrorize civilian populations. The threat is particularly acute across the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin, and the Horn of Africa, where abductions are now embedded within the operational and financial models of armed groups.
Yet national response capacity remains highly uneven. While some States have built specialist units and investigative frameworks over decades, many others are required to manage complex, time-sensitive incidents without dedicated structures, trained personnel, or established procedures
This CT Week side event “From Abduction to Response: Bridging Capacity Gaps in?Countering?Kidnapping and Hostage Taking”,?is co-organized by?Canada, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations Office of?Counter-Terrorism?(UNOCT) on 16 June 2026. It will examine the evolving threat landscape and operational capacity gaps that constrain effective response, particularly in affected African States. A discussion with senior practitioners from Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Nigeria's National Counter-Terrorism Centre, and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency will draw out operational lessons.
The event will feature the launch of the UNOCT e-learning course on countering kidnapping and hostage-taking, a new tool to extend foundational capacity to first responders worldwide.
This event is organized on the margins of the 2026 Counter-Terrorism week (CT Week). For more information visit: www.un.org/counterterrorism/en/2026-counter-terrorism-week
