Abu DHabi: The UAE, the US, and others around the world are celebrating the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Sawab Centre that combats extremist ideologies threatening young minds, the stability of communities and the security and prosperity of nations.
The UAE and the US launched the Sawab Centre from a strong, harmonious working relationship that proved that strength and determination would ultimately bear fruit.
For the fourth year running, the centre has been commended for its high degree of professionalism and great impact upon individuals and communities.
Since its inception in 2015, the Sawab Centre has been working on social media to counter disinformation and falsehoods and to combat extremist groups who promote their twisted ideologies in the digital realm.
The centre also provides an important platform for the voices of moderation and tolerance that reject extremist ideas and terrorist acts.
The Sawab Centre believes in transferring its expertise and enhancing the global capacity to fight extremism through institutional frameworks and constructive collaboration.
In this spirit, several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed with like-minded parties and organisations that share the centre’s mission of combatting online extremism and terrorism.
Through its strategy and targeted messaging, the Sawab Centre has attracted a significant following in the critical youth demographic between the ages of 13 and 34, which represents 70 per cent of the centre’s followers. Extremist groups also seek to brainwash and recruit from this youth demographic.
Sawab operates standalone Arabic, English and French platforms, and it plans to expand the number of languages based upon audience demand. Many of Sawab’s partners around the world regularly translate its materials into their own languages.
Through launching 39 proactive campaigns and hundreds of reactive social media campaigns over the last four years, Sawab has attracted more than seven million followers from 83 different countries to its various Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts.
Despite differences in language, culture, and religious and ethnic affiliation, Sawab’s followers are united in combating the scourge of extremism.
Sawab’s social media campaigns focus on two tracks: the first exposes the lies and falsehoods of Daesh and other terrorist groups, which seek to brainwash and exploit individuals and communities.
Examples of these campaigns include #AfterTerrorism, #DaeshLiesExposed, and #DeludedFollowers.
The second track conveys positive alternatives that encourage optimism, humanity, tolerance, and coexistence, while indirectly countering the hateful ideologies of extremist groups: #WorldOfTolerance , #DailyRayOfLight, and #KnowingTheOther, as examples.
Now entering its fifth year of existence, the Sawab Centre is determined to continue its service to humanity by encouraging the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, while rejecting the extremist ideologies that seek to divide and destroy the world.
