Boko Haram And The Role of Women in Countering Violent Extremism

CVE

20 March 2017: While many resources have been dedicated to Countering Violent Extremism efforts, little attention has been paid to the role women play in the Boko Haram insurgency and responses to it in Nigeria, says Idayat Hassan.

Countering Violent Extremism: Facebook Algorithms 'Will Identify Terrorists'

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has outlined a plan to let artificial intelligence (AI) software review content posted on the social network.

Canadian Takes Fight Against Boko Haram To The Airwaves To Counter Sect's Narratives

A Canadian broadcaster, Mr. David Smith, has set up a radio station focused at combating Boko Haram insurgency and its ideology. The radio station named ''Dandal Kura'', will air on shortwave from Nigeria to discourage people from violence.

Countering Violent Extremism Through Development

Where does the fight against violent extremism fit within the broad spectrum of development?

How Do You Spot The Next Terrorist?

You spend your days staring at endless crowds of people, peering into their eyes (figuratively) and tapping into their smartphones (literally), trying to guess which one of them will be the next mass murderer.

FACT SHEET: United States Support for Peace, Security, and Countering Violent Extremism in Africa

The United States is committed to working with our African partners to address peace and security challenges on the continent and across the globe.  While expanding our cooperation with governments in Africa to combat the growing terrorist threat across the continent and protect African communities, we are engaging in holistic efforts to help governments and communities in Africa combat violent extremism.

UK Schools Given Software To Detect Extremism Among Pupils

UK Schools are being offered new software that helps teachers spy on pupils' potentially extremist online activity.

The Cheerleaders And The Freelancers: The New Actors In International Terrorism

They are the freelancers of terrorism: young men -- and some women -- who feel alienated from the Western societies in which they live, hold extremist religious views and embrace violence. They become immersed in social media, searching out opinions that echo their own.

The Pseudoscience of Countering Violent Extremism

During a visit to the United States several years ago, I was drawn to a billboard on a New Jersey Transit platform that depicted a train bombing, helpfully labeled “train bombing.” The sign warned that “we’re all on the front lines” and encouraged viewers to report suspicious activity to the New Jersey Transit police via phone call or text message.

UK Anti-Radicalisation 'Prevent Strategy' A ‘Toxic Brand’

The British government’s flagship anti-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, has become a toxic brand and is widely mistrusted, a former senior Muslim police officer has said.

Australian PM - Tony Abbott To Launch New Strategy To Counter 'Long-term Era of Terrorism'

Tony Abbott

The Australian government will create a national strategy to beat violent extremism and appoint a counter-terrorism coordinator to tackle what the prime minister, Tony Abbott, calls a “new, long-term era of heightened terrorism”.

Nonsense About Terrorism's 'Root Causes - Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst

The Obama administration this week hosted a three-day conference on "Countering Violent Extremism," which is a government euphemism for how best to deal with Islamist terrorism. Already a predictable tsunami of nonsense has washed over us about the "root causes" of terrorism.

'We Are Not At War With Islam'- Obama's Message At CVE Summit

Barack Obama (POTUS)

President Barack Obama says the United States is not at war with Islam. The U.S. leader told a White House summit on combating violent extremism he wants to discredit the belief that Americans and Westerners in general are at odds with Muslims. He said this narrative helps extremists radicalize and recruit young Americans and others.

White House Prepares for Summit on Countering Violent Extremism

The summit comes in the wake of fresh attacks across the globe.

The White House will host a long-awaited summit on countering the behavior that leads marginalized groups and individuals to join terrorist groups starting Tuesday on the heels of another wave of violent attacks in Egypt and Denmark.

New Law In France Permits Government To Block Suspected Terrorism Websites Without Court Order

A new decree that went into effect today allows the French government to block websites accused of promoting terrorism and publishing child pornography, without seeking a court order.

Big Rethink For Counterterrorism

Like politics, terrorism is local, which is why extremists use local grievances as initial motivators to recruit.

The Role of Education in Countering Violent Extremism - TBFF

The United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation are to work together to examine the role of education in countering violent extremism.

'Teach Virtues of Religious Respect, Tolerance To Counter Terrorism' - Tony Blair

Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair is calling for an urgent global agreement to teach religious respect as he warns that action against extremist groups will otherwise "count for nothing".

In an essay for the BBC, the former prime minister said the underlying causes of religious conflict must be confronted through educating young people, although he made exceptions for violent organisations such as the Islamic State.

An agreement to improve interfaith relations would address the principal cause of terrorism-related activity as leaders must “uproot the thinking of the extremists, not simply disrupt their actions,” he suggested.

Mr Blair said defeated extremist groups will simply be replaced by new ones which continue to spread extreme ideologies if the root causes are not tackled.
"Unless we begin to confront the underlying causes each time we take on a group like Isis (Islamic State) another will quickly arise to take its place," he said.

Writing in the BBC, he said the rise of extremist groups such as al-Shabaab and Boko Haram are a “perversion of faith that has been growing unchecked”.

Mr Blair said: "We need at the G20, or some other appropriate forum, as soon as we can, to raise this issue as a matter of urgent global importance and work on a common charter to be accepted by all nations, and endorsed by the UN, which makes it a common obligation to ensure that throughout our education systems, we're committed to teaching the virtue of religious respect."

After making his argument for advocating interfaith understanding and tolerance, he stated that he is not opposed to single-faith schools.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which was established by the former Labour leader in 2008, aims to work against religious prejudice by influencing 12-17 year olds in 30 countries, including Pakistan, the US and Singapore.

Mr Blair has been criticised over sending troops into more wars than any other prime minister in history, with military intervention in Iraq twice, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan within six years.

Source:
The Independent, UK

Nigerian Government May Include Counter-terrorism In School Curriculum - Sambo Dasuki

As part of the soft approach to countering terrorism, the Federal Government is planning to tinker with
national school curriculum for more productivity.

National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki gave the hint when he addressed the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOG) of the United Nations in New York on Monday.

Already, extensive assessments of schools across Northern Nigeria have been conducted in order to gain a better understanding of the state of
education.

The soft approach was developed to complement the pounding of the terrorists by the military in what
can be described as the “carrot and stick” method which has been recommended by some experts on
counter terrorism across the world.

The Soft CVE programme has four basic aspects which include De-radicalization, Strategic Communication, Counter Radicalisation and Economic Regeneration.

The Council had invited Dasuki to elaborate on the non-military aspect of Nigeria’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program also known as the Soft Approach to countering terrorism, which was first unveiled to Nigerians on March 18, 2014.
“We have conducted extensive assessments of schools across Northern Nigeria in order to gain a better understanding of the state of education”.

“We have now begun preliminary consultations with the Ministry of Education with regard to potential
changes to the national curriculum and will be hosting an Education Summit, bringing together key stakeholders and policy-makers”, he said.

Already, some prisons were being configured to achieve the de-radicalization program, which involves training of a new generation of practitioners in the areas of forensic psychology, religious instruction with particular emphasis on extremist narratives, art therapists, social workers and vocational and educational counsellors.

Government is also training a multi-disciplinary prison based treatment team including Imams to manage terror suspects responsible for developing curriculum and training in religious education, cognitive behaviour therapy, anger management, relapse prevention, empathy, risk management and
risk assessment.

Dasuki explained that this stream is expected to “foster greater respect for human rights and rule of law; train relevant prison staff on CVE, to
professionally handle terror suspects and issues of rehabilitation; develop a range of expert psychologists and counsellors to pioneer rehabilitation efforts and; introduce a more holistic
approach to the rehabilitation of prisoners in the country, using in-depth psychological analysis and research to understand the root causes of extremism and other criminal ideologies.

“Through Strategic Communications, we are working to counter extremist ideology and narratives.
Extremists’ views are often based on ignorance, misconceptions, willful misinterpretation and twisted ideology.

In the case of Boko Haram, narratives are founded on a set of core beliefs that are opposed to the state and aspects of western education.
“One of the ways to implement the strategic communication strategy would be by developing a voluntary code of conduct on reporting national security issues that will regulate crisis reporting especially with regard to terrorism for the press.”

He added that in the multi thronged strategy, civil servants and members of the military were being trained to strengthen government’s public diplomacy efforts, while a documentary on Boko Haram and research on the Pathways to Radicalisation had been commissioned to further the understanding of Boko Haram.

The NSA disclosed that implementation of the Counter Radicalisation plank rested mainly on the Society Against Violent Extremism (SAVE) Project based in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and will seek determinedly to counter the drivers of radicalisation by encouraging CVE action in communities, civil society and government institutions; building community engagement and
resilience; using education as a tool for countering violent extremism; and promoting religious tolerance.

Dasuki noted that in order to achieve the stated objectives, key projects have been designed to ensure that education is used as a tool to stem extremism by emphasizing the teaching of critical thinking and logical reasoning as well as sports, music, arts, and drama while also creating psychological support structures for victims of terrorism through the main stream provision of
PTSD.

He further told his audience that “we are beginning to make real progress but are aware that these are but the early stages of what must be an extensive and all-encompassing set of interventions”.
The former aid-de-camp to former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida told his audience that the Economic Regeneration aspect of the Soft Approach to the CVE programme will work with governors of six north eastern states in designing an economic revitalization program targeting states most impacted by terrorism.

Dasuki thanked members of the international community that have supported Nigeria’s fight against terrorism and reminded the gathering that “no nation has the monopoly of knowledge especially when it comes to dealing with terrorism”, as could
be attested by Great Britain, Columbia, Spain and Iraq.

Source:
Daily Post

Nigeria Unveils Counter-terrorism Strategy At The United Nations

In a bid to further secure international support for its anti-insurgency campaign, Nigeria is set to unveil its counter-terrorism strategy at the ongoing 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly Meeting (UNGA) in New York.