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Global deaths from terrorism reach 5-year-low, 59% less than 2014 peak: Report

Afghanistan saw the biggest decrease, but Taliban remain deadliest terror group

Syriac-dismantles-ISIS-flag-Syria-AP Representational image | AP

The eighth edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) has issued a rare tiding of good news in 2020: Deaths from terrorism reached a five-year low in 2019 at 13,826—a 15 per cent decrease from the previous year. In addition, the global economic impact of terrorism was $16.4 billion in 2019, 25 per cent lower than in 2018. 

The report, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) uses data from the Global Terrorism Database as well as from other sources.

While regions like North America, Western Europe and Oceania have seen a 250 per cent increase in attacks since 2014, the same period has also seen the rise and fall of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Deaths attributed to the group in 2019 fell to 942, down from 1,571 the previous year—the first time since the group’s inception that it was responsible for less than a thousand deaths in a year.

However, IS remains a threat worldwide. “Despite the decrease in activity from ISIL in the Middle East and North Africa, ISIL’s affiliate groups remain active across the world, and have become especially prominent in sub-Saharan Africa where deaths attributed to ISIL affiliates increased. 27 countries experienced a terrorist attack caused by ISIL or one of its affiliates,” the report says.

The expansion of ISIL affiliates into sub-Saharan Africa led to a surge in terrorism in many countries in the region. Seven of the ten countries with the largest increase in terrorism were in sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, Niger, Cameron and Ethiopia. These countries are also facing various ecological threats, are amongst the countries with the highest population growth and suffer from low societal resilience. The largest increase in deaths from terrorism occurred in Burkina Faso, where deaths rose from 86 to 593, a 590 per cent increase, the report says.

The Taliban remains the leading cause of terror deaths worldwide, with 4,990 attributed to it in 2019, with Afghanistan maintaining its place as the region worst-affected by terror. However, the country also saw the largest fall in the number of deaths, with 1,654 fewer deaths in 2019 than in 2018, a 22.4 per cent decrease. The impact of the ongoing peace negotiations remains to be seen.

Interestingly, the report notes that “Far-right terrorism tends to be more lethal than far-left terrorism, but not as lethal as Islamist terrorism in the West.”

Overall, deaths from terrorism are now 59 per cent lower than their peak in 2014. The fall in deaths has been largest in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria.

There were 558 terrorist attacks and 277 deaths from terrorism recorded in India in 2019. This marks a fall in both deaths and attacks of over 20 per cent since 2018, the report says. Jammu and Kashmir remained the worst-affected state in India with 165 attacks, resulting in 103 deaths. The Pulwama attack, which left 41 dead after a terrorist targeted a CRPF convoy, was the deadliest terror attack in India in 2019.

Interestingly, the report says that India has the lowest number of terrorism deaths among the ten

countries most affected by terrorism, and the lowest lethality rate of attacks. The ten most-affected countries are Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Philippines.

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI), issued annually by the Australia based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) aims to comprehensively analyse the impact of terrorism on 163 countries, covering 99.7 per cent of the world population.

The report observes how the European Leadership Network is developing the concept

of social impact bonds in relation to terrorism with a particular focus on securing dangerous materials that could be used in sophisticated terrorist attacks, such as radioactive medical waste. There are already over 100 development or social impact bonds globally, but to date they have not been used for security purposes.”

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