ICT4Peace on Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) at the 2016 Annual Conference of Swiss Ambassadors in Geneva and at ETH in Zurich

Activities, Policy Research CS, Advisory CS, Capacity Building CS, Responding to/preventing Violent Extremism using ICTs and the Internet, ICTs and Human Rights Protection, New media for crisis management and peacebuilding, Cybersecurity High-Level Policy Briefings, Tech against terrorism

29. August 2016

ICT4Peace is proud to have been invited on 23 August 2016 by the 2016 Annual Conference of Swiss Ambassadors and foreign representations at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to participate in the Workshop on “Preventing Violent Extremism – a Swiss and Geneva specialty”. The Panel, which was chaired by Mr. Stefan Husy, Ambassador-at-Large for International Counter-Terrorism and highlighted three spheres of PVE action:

Engaging communities, empowering youth and women
Dialogue and conflict prevention
Strategic communications, internet and social media

ICT4Peace’s Daniel Stauffacher was presenting inter alia on topic three and the work of ICT4Peace on PVE in cooperation with the UN Security Council CTC/CTED. His presentation can be found here.

In this context, on 25 August 2016, ICT4Peace and UN CTED organised at ETH Zurich the first of three workshops with 48 participants on Private sector engagement in prevention of the use of ICT and the internet to promote violent extremism. This joint ICT4Peace-UN CTED project was formally launched on request by the United Nations on 7 April at the United Nations in Geneva.

The next workshops will be held in Silicon Valley on 11 and 12 September 2016 and in Malaysia on 2 and 3 November 2016.UNCTED/ICT4Peace will report on the outcome of this process to the UN Security Council CTC on 30 November and 1 December 2016.

In preparation of this process, ICT4Peace was invited on 16 December 2015 by the United Nations in New York to moderate a technical panel discussion on Collaboration between the Public and Private Sector to prevent violent extremism, promote safety and counter messaging on the Internet, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In parallel processes, ICT4Peace has been participating in a study led by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Geneva Academy on countering violent extremism and terrorism online, freedom of expression and the right to privacy, and conducting training activities countering violent extremism in Myanmar.