University of Birzeit presented on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 “Examining the Paradigm of Preventing Violent Extremism in Light of UN Efforts”, a seminar led by the Observatory to Prevent Extremism of NOVACT, and coordinated in Palestine by the Palestinian Struggle Coordination Committees (PSCC) and Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.
This initiative was launched in January 2017, when more than 320 representatives of 172 civil society organizations from 22 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region met in Barcelona. In “Toward a New Paradigm: Preventing Violent Extremism”, we worked on the constructive contribution of the prevention of violent extremism, from civil society organizations and based on the lessons learned in the last decades and the challenges that lie ahead.
From this Conference it was drawn up the “Euro-Mediterranean Civil Society Action Plan to Prevent All Forms of Violent Extremism”, which reflects the main conclusions of the Barcelona Conference. It is also an opportunity for all actors in the Euro-Mediterranean community to unite and adjust their actions with inclusive approaches against division, intolerance and hate speech. This Action Plan represents an unprecedented effort to reconcile the vision of civil society in the North and South of the Mediterranean. We believe that only a real and honest transnational partnership can help us establish an effective way to prevent all forms of violent extremism.
A further seminar was held in Tunis in February with the aim of defining the action plan at local level in various Euro-Mediterranean regions. In “Building Resilience and Alternative Narratives: Towards a Tunisian Action Plan to Prevent Violent Extremism?” The National Action Plan was defined in Tunisia, showing the steps being taken by Tunisian civil society in Tunisia towards the prevention of extremist violence. The next steps will be in Palestine and in Jordan.
The seminar in Palestine is based on the United Nations approach to discussing the nature of current efforts to prevent violent extremism in this country. It is also proposed to explore conditions for ensuring that human rights, including the right of Palestinians to resist the occupation under international law, and the right to self-determination are not being violated. It also wants to examine the possibility of a Palestinian own contribution that establishes a more effective response from human rights to violent extremism. The review consists of: deconstructing the current hegemonic idea of security as a unique approach to the phenomenon, identifying the structural causes of violent extremism, exploring the dynamic relationships between a real democracy and security, and identifying the key experiences implemented by the Palestinian resistance contributing to the prevention of violent extremism.
Seminar “Examining the Paradigm of Preventing Violent Extremism in Light of UN Efforts”, in Palestine.
