Education key to heading off radicals

Abu Dhabi: Country representatives taking part in Friday’s Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) agreed that frontline advocacy against radicalisation is a critical weapon in the global fight against the problem.

Faris Al Mazrouei, assistant minister for security and military affairs, told Gulf News that the forum discussed efforts to combat terrorism and the economic, social, cultural and political reasons that fuel it.

“We in the UAE are always against extremism and fanaticism in any country and this justifies why we have held the forum in the UAE,” said Al Mazrouei. “The audience discussed roots of extremism, violent terrorism and fanaticism and means to solve this issue.

“It was clear that members are independently engaged in extensive work in these contexts already, with prisons and educational institutions focal points for many: members agreed on the importance of local level governments and frontline workers in shaping educational reform and preventing radicalisation in prisons and universities.”

Alexander Zmeyevskiy, special representative of the president of the Russian Federation for International Cooperation, Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime, told Gulf News that Russia is against all kinds of terrorism which leads to the killing of people.

“We have to concert our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism and there is no way to weed this out without full cooperation from everybody,” he said. “We have seen many terrorist acts in the world recently and this requires instant measures to eradicate these fanatic groups and to end terrorism, which threatens lives and the stability of many countries.”

He added that the meeting did not touch on the Syrian issue nor were there discussions on Iraq or Afghanistan.

Ahmad Davutoglu, foreign minister of Turkey, whose country co-chairs the GCTF with the US, said that due to many recent changes in the international arena there is a dire need to be proactive to counter terrorism and its repercussions.

“Today’s dazzling changes in the international environment compel us to play a pro-active role in countering colossal challenges, said Davutoglu. “Turkey, as a beacon of dynamic stability in a volatile region, has a sense of responsibility that drives her foreign policy.

“Turkey spares no efforts to consolidate security and stability in our region and beyond. Our efforts in countering terrorism are part and parcel of our strategy in this regard.”

The Turkish minister stressed that his country has, and continues to be, victimised by terrorism. “Our longstanding struggle against this menace puts us at the forefront of the global counterterrorism efforts,” he said. “It is with this understanding that we take active part in GCTF as co-chair.”

He reiterated that the GCTF is envisaged as a flexible and action-oriented platform among governments and experts for facilitating the exchange of experience and information as well as enhancing understanding of expectations and needs.

The minister said: “In that respect, I think, in fair judgement, we can state that GCTF has so far proven its added value for the global efforts to countering terrorism there are several issues of common concern. We are confident that our joint efforts will enable us to strike the right balance between individual perspectives and these strategic priorities.

“Violent radicalisation into terrorism is a process which can be intervened, prevented and at times reversed. However, although there are considerable amount of academic studies as well as national programmes in this field, we still face significant challenges and there is a need to translate the accumulated knowledge to efficient measures at national and international levels.”