Skip to main content

High-level Inter-Regional Conference on "Whole-of-Society-Approach" to Prevent and Counter Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism

Description

Organised at the initiative of the Government of Mongolia in collaboration with the OSCE Secretariat’s Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), the fourth inter-regional conference, with the participation of the Asian Partners for Co-operation, builds on the previous high-level P/CVERLT inter-regional  conferences that took place last year in Dushanbe, Seoul and Tashkent.

Summary

The purpose of this event is to engage policy makers, civil society and other relevant actors from across Asia and beyond in inter-regional dialogue to promote the development and implementation of effective, human rights-compliant and gender-sensitive strategies and policies to prevent and counter violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (P/CVERLT). Further, the conference will also contribute to Mongolia’s efforts to promote social cohesion and inter-cultural, inter-faith dialogue in the context of P/CVERLT in the Asian and Transatlantic regions. The conference aims at facilitating the exchange of good practices and lessons learned in navigating challenges in the implementation of relevant national action plans.

Topics discussed include:

  • The Role of Inter-cultural and Inter-faith Dialogue in P/CVERLT
  • Promotion of Social Cohesion through Exchange of Good Practice Across the Regions
  • The Role of Youth and Local Communities in P/CVERLT
  • Effective Policies and Measures to P/CVERLT
  • Whole-of-Society, Multi-stakeholder Approach in Conceptualizing and Implementing
  • National Strategy

Background

The Conference follows on from the first-ever High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism, held from 28 to 29 June 2018 in New York, which was convened by the Secretary-General to strengthen international cooperation to combat the evolving threat of terrorism.

The thematic focus will be to discuss the importance of governments working with civil society, youth, religious and local community actors. The conference will explore ways to find local solutions rooted in international human rights to prevent the emergence of violent extremism as well as to protect communities from terrorist recruitment. The importance of these themes is reflected in several General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. General Assembly resolution 72/284 for the Sixth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy recognised the role that civil society organisations, religious groups and community leaders can play in confronting the challenges of recruitment and radicalization to terrorism, including by promoting tolerance. It also underscored the importance of empowering youth, noting that children may be especially vulnerable to radicalization to violence. The Security Council in its resolution 2395 welcomed the role of relevant civil society, youth, and locally-focused actors in preventing and countering violent extremism conducive to terrorism.