Expert Briefing Series: Cooperation between Religious Leaders and the Public Sector to Protect Religious Sites against Terrorist Attacks

Click here to register Regardless of goals and ideologues of specific terrorist groups, religious sites and places of worship represent attractive targets for perpetrators of terrorist groups and “lone wolves”. Attacks on sites such as mosques, churches, synagogues and shrines do not require sophisticated tactics, significant resources and expert knowledge. Large physical gatherings of worshippers, particularly for major religious holidays and processions, offer easy targets for all types of terrorists and their supporters. In addition to great numbers of casualties and wounded, these devastating acts of terrorism disrupt daily life, stoke fear and, in the case of faith institutions, they also target people’s beliefs, identities, histories and dignity.

Over the past years, terrorists have recurrently attacked religious sites around the world seeking to strike at the very core of communities’ sense of identity and belonging. Just in 2023, religious places and mass gatherings have been targeted in many countries for various reasons, including terrorism. For example, a terrorist bombing on the Peshawar Mosque in Pakistan on 30 January 2023 killed some 83 people and injured over 220. On 16 January 2023, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Mr. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, strongly condemned all terrorist attacks on religious sites and places of worship that recently took place, including “the heinous bomb attack on a Pentecostal church in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo killing more than ten church-goers and wounding dozens,” and “the cold blooded attack on a mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Burkina Faso last week killing 9 worshippers.”

In its Seventh Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2021, the General Assembly called upon Member States to “strengthen efforts to improve the security and protection of particularly vulnerable targets, including religious sites (…) as well as to enhance their resilience to terrorist attacks, in particular in the area of civil protection”.

As stated in the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, a multi-stakeholder approach is key to prevent, prepare and protect against potential attacks against places of worship. This should be a collective task to be pursued in a sustained and coordinated manner by relevant actors in Member States, including policymaking bodies, legislative authorities, law enforcement and emergency responders, as well as religious leaders, faith institutions, civil society groups and community members. The Plan of Action provides specific recommendations to Member States to strengthen preparedness and protection of religious sites including through partnerships with religious leaders and communities by building trust and cooperation, promoting respect and mutual understanding, and encouraging intra- and interfaith dialogue.

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