Hedayah,
the International Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, CVE,
has taken part in the "Special Meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee
with Member States and Relevant International and Regional Organisations on
Stemming the Flow of Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Technical Sessions of the
Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate", in Madrid.
The
meeting, which was held from 27th to 28th July 2015, brought together
representatives from 15 Counter-Terrorism Committee Member States and other
United Nations Member States along with representatives from relevant
international and regional organisations. The goal of this meeting was to
discuss measures in favour of stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters
in Madrid, Spain.
Dr.
Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, the Chairman of Hedayah Steering Board, stressed the
crucial need for international cooperation, adding that, ''It is the collective
responsibility of all nations now more than ever, particularly in light of the
current state and growing concern about foreign terrorist fighters, FTF.
Dr.
Al Nuaimi stressed that the success in this area requires working in close
strategic partnership not only with Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive
Directorate but also with all United Nations organs.
During
the meeting, Maqsoud Kruse, the Executive Director of Hedayah, moderated the
first two technical sessions for Group I entitled "Detection, intervention
against, and prevention of incitement, recruitment and facilitation of
FTF". The first session, "Intervention against and prevention of
incitement, recruitment and facilitation of FTFs", focused on the key
areas of Diagnosis of the problem; Discussion on empirical data stating how
FTFs are incited, recruited and how their travel is facilitated according to
region, age and gender; Evolution and latest trends vis-a-vis interpersonal
recruitment and internet-based radicalisation; International, regional and
sub-regional initiatives aimed at preventing (a) incitement, (b) recruitment,
and (c) facilitation of travel of FTFs; National projects/programmes aimed at
preventing (a) incitement, (b) recruitment and (c) facilitation of travel of
FTFs.
Kruse
also moderated the second session, entitled, "Community engagement and
empowerment of local communities", which focused on the key areas of
Community-led initiatives aimed at early detection and intervention against
incitement, recruitment and facilitation of travel of FTFs; Successful models
of cooperation between Governments and communities susceptible to recruitment
vis-a-vis prevention of incitement, recruitment and facilitation of FTFs;
Governments’ roles in preventing the subversion of religious institutions for
the purpose of FTFs incitement, recruitment and facilitation of travel;
Governments’ role in empowering youth, women and victims to preventing
incitement, recruitment and facilitation of travel of FTFs; Counter-narratives
and the different role to be played by religious leaders, youth, women and
victims vis-a-vis Governments; Counter-narratives in the off-line and on-line
spaces, and Training/capacity building of community leaders.
Hedayah,
the first international "Think-and-Do Tank" focused on Countering
Violent Extremism, participated in the meeting in order to share knowledge on
Foreign Terrorist Fighters, one of the most significant issues that comes at
the top of Hedayah’s priorities.
Sarah
Zeiger, Senior Research Analyst at the Department of Research and Analysis in
Hedayah, shared the outcomes and publications resulting from a weeklong series
of activities conducted by Hedayah on Foreign Terrorist Fighters radicalisation
and recruitment phenomenon, which took place from 7th-10th June. During the
week, Hedayah hosted two events: "Planning Workshop for Foreign Terrorist
Fighter Reintegration Training Courses", in collaboration with the
International Institute of Justice and Rule of Law based in Malta, and
"Countering Foreign Terrorist Fighter Recruitment Workshop:
Counter-Messaging and the Role of Disillusioned Former Fighters".
On
28th July, Maqsoud Kruse also attended the high-level meeting about adopting
the Madrid Ministerial Declaration on Stemming the Flow of Foreign Terrorist
Fighters. The Ministerial summit, which saw the active participation of 48
Ministers from all continents, concluded by endorsing the preliminary
conclusions of the Committee, which in turn were based on input from over 400
experts from all over the world. Among the listed recommendations in the Madrid
Ministerial declaration is the proposal to better promote universal values and
to work closer with Internet service providers as one means to put a stop to the
criminal misleading propaganda of terrorist groups, the spread of messages of
incitement to violence and recruitment through social media networks, including
the glorification of cruel acts which cause tremendous suffering to victims.
The Madrid declaration also underscored the need for states to redouble their
efforts in stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, including making it
considerably more difficult for these individuals to travel to conflict zones.
The
declaration further underlined the importance of analysis undertaken by the
Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate of emerging trends and
challenges, as well as the identification of good practices in the
implementation of UN Security Council resolutions related to the fight against
terrorism.
Following
the Ministerial Summit, Hedayah attended a Counter-Terrorism Committee
Executive Directorate Roundtable Discussion among stakeholders to kick-start
concrete follow-up action that can facilitate a quicker implementation of
Security Council Resolution No. 2178 of 2014 that calls upon all nations to
"prevent recruitment, organization, facilitation of travel of individuals
to other countries, other than the country of their residence, for or
committing or planning or participating in terrorist acts". –End-
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by: WAM
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