ASEAN-UN Regional Dialogue on Preventing Violent Extremism Held in Jakarta
Date:
Jakarta, Indonesia – Senior government officials from ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat, experts from ASEAN research institutes and civil society and senior officials from the United Nations have come together in Jakarta to discuss conflict prevention and the prevention of violent extremism in the ASEAN region.
Focusing on the roles of women, youth and civil society in preventing violent extremism, H.E. Mr. A. M. Fachir, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, opened the dialogue, titled “Collaboration in Conflict Prevention, Preventive Diplomacy and Prevention of Violent Extremism”, together with H.E. Mr. Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the United Nations and H.E. Mr. Hirubalan, V.P., the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN.“Addressing the root causes is extremely crucial in addressing violent extremism in our region through an ASEAN approach that is people-centred and people-oriented with protection and empowerment of people as the two key components,” stated Vice Minister Fachir.
Noting that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented his Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism to the United Nations General Assembly in January this year, Assistant Secretary-General Jenča stated, “Regional cooperation is particularly important to address the drivers of violent extremism. The UN Secretary-General has called for UN Member States to come together to complement their national strategies by adopting new regional or sub-regional plans of action to prevent violent extremism, facilitated on the basis of national ownership and according to regional priorities.”
H.E. Mr. Hirubalan, V. P., the Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Political-Security Community in his remarks also highlighted that ASEAN has not been spared from the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism. “It is in this context that we value the continued discussions across many platforms on the nature of the threat to understand its dimensions, root causes, counters if that is at all possible, the impact on societies and communities, and the steps required to enhance the resilience and solidarity of the citizenry in facing this challenge.”
The ASEAN-UN Workshop: Regional Dialogue (AURED III) on Political-Security Cooperation is jointly organised by the UN Department of Political Affairs, including the UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and also the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN Foundation.
AURED III is the latest in an annual series of ASEAN-UN regional workshops on political-security cooperation, since the ASEAN-UN Comprehensive Partnership was adopted by the Leaders of ASEAN and the United Nations Secretary-General in November 2011 in Indonesia.
AURED III will be held over two days in Jakarta from 8 to 9 November.