Globally: Philipines cry more on terrorism
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines ranked 12th globally in terms of terrorism's impact due to an increase in the number of fatalities and terrorist activity, according to a global terrorism index.
According to Global Terrorism Index 2017, the Philippines, China and Thailand have accounted for 85 percent of the total deaths in the Asia Pacific region since 2002. The report provides a comprehensive summary of key global trends and patterns in terrorism covering a period of 17 years, from 2002 to 2016.
"In 2016, these three countries accounted for 94 percent of attacks, which is a significant increase from 55 percent in 2002, " said the report which was produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace and based on data from the Global Terrorism Database.
The report also noted the control by jihadist forces of Marawi City.
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"Over the last fifteen years, there has been a 720 percent increase in the number of terrorist attacks from 106 in 2002 to 870 in 2016," it said.
The study also noted that there were 350 terrorism-related deaths in the Asia Pacific in 2002, and these increased to 744 in 2014 but declined in 469 in 2016.
Globally, 2017 is a turning point in the fight against terrorism as there is a decline in the number of deaths from terrorist attacks to 25,673 which represents a 22-percent improvement from its peak in 2014.
Despite this improvement, worrying trends were recorded by the investigation.
"More countries experienced at least one death from terrorism. This is more than at any time in the past 17 years and reflects an increase from 65 countries in 2015 to 77 in 2016," it said.
More nations also experienced at least one attack, from 95 in 2015 to
106 last year, resulting in a global GTI score deterioration of four
percent since 2015.
Economic impact
Although the Islamic State group has suffered major defeats in its
territories in Iraq and Syria, a more troubling development is playing
out: the potential for hardened fighters and leaders to leave Iraq and
Syria to join new radical permutations of ISIS or its affiliates in
other countries.
Philippine security forces are on the lookout for returning ISIS
fighters from the Middle East, just weeks after they crushed an attempt
by ISIS-inspired militants to establish a caliphate in the Islamic city
of Marawi.
The battle resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people, mostly
combatants, displacement of at least 360,000 people and destruction of
the lakeside city's center. After the five-month battle, most of the
buildings were smoldering ruins.
The government has estimated that at least P50 billion would be needed
to rehabilitate and reconstruct the town ravaged by terrorism.
"When examining the drivers of terrorism the presence of armed
conflict, political violence by governments, political exclusion and
group grievances remain critical factors," the report said.
The global impact of terrorism also declined to $84 billion in 2016
from a higher figure in 2015. Although this is significant, the economic
impact of terrorism is still small compared to other forms of violence.
"This amount is only one percent of the total global economic impact of
violence, which reached $14.3 trillion in 2016," the report said,
warning that the financial impact was conservative as this did not
include indirect impacts on business, investment and security costs.
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