Швейцарская Конфедерация
Press release on the Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism −The Way Forward
The Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism − The Way Forward, co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland and the UN Secretariat, took place on April 7−8 in Geneva. The event was the first comprehensive international discussion of the UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism that was submitted to the UN on January 15, 2016.
The conference involved over 300 representatives of states, international organisations, the business community, media outlets and NGOs.
The following four expert sessions were held on the first day, with delegates focusing on ways to maintain effective national and international efforts to fight violent extremism: the PVE plan of action in the context of the larger United Nations global prevention agenda; addressing the drivers of violent extremism; priorities for national PVE plans of action; and the mobilisation of resources.
On the second day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Didier Burkhalter, head of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, opened the ministerial segment of the conference. After that, about 80 senior representatives of international organisations, including the UN, the Arab League, the OSCE, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Council of Europe, as well as representatives of national delegations, including ministers from a number of countries, delivered speeches.
Most delegates supported the UN Secretary-General’s initiative to draft the Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, with due consideration for the need to chart independent national and regional strategies for combating terrorism and extremism and eliminating factors that help spread these threats at the national and global levels.
A Russian interdepartmental delegation headed by Ilya Rogachev, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats (DNCT), attended the event.
The results of the two-day discussion were captured in the chairperson’s closing remarks.