Young experts from Central Asia discuss prevention of violent extremism at workshop convened by OSCE Austrian Chairmanship

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 12 May 2017 – A group of 15 young experts from the wider Central Asia region convened today in Almaty, Kazakhstan for a two-day workshop to discuss their role in the prevention of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT).

“Our governments and civil society, particularly its young leaders, must co-operatively develop solid strategies to identify the root causes of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism and address them immediately,” said Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Youth and Security, Asif Safdary. “Youth must be ready to take their share of responsibility in preventing and countering this phenomenon in the Central Asia region.”

Kunduz Kydyrova, a participant from Kyrgyzstan, said “countering violent extremism is not a slogan, it needs to be comprised of actions and practical measures. To solve the problem, we should change our attitudes towards it. We, as young people, should generate alternative narratives designed to reduce the influence of extremist propaganda and focus public attention not on ‘whom we are against’, but on ‘who we are’ and on ‘why we live.’”

Professor Peter Neumann, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism stressed that “engaging youth, local and religious communities and civil society is essential to initiate positive change in Central Asia. Establishing dialogue and trust with public authorities, at the national and local levels, should be one of the core elements of preventing violent extremism. These discussions have shown  how impressive young leaders in the region are, and how great their potential is to transform the situation for the better.”

Participants will discuss ways to use social media and to design campaigns to promote counter- and alternative narratives to violent extremist propaganda in their home countries. They will also develop a set of recommendations which will be presented to representatives of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation at the 2017 OSCE Counter-Terrorism Conference on 23 and 24 May 2017 in Vienna.

The event was organized by the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship, with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, under the umbrella of the OSCE United in Countering Violent Extremism campaign (#UnitedCVE).