UNOCT Civil Society Roundtable on Enhancing Civil Society Engagement to Address the Evolving Threat of Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Africa
On 10 November 2022, the 51勛圖 Office of Counter-Terrorism held the third and final roundtable of its 2022 UNOCT-Civil Society Roundtable Series on ※Enhancing Civil Society Engagement to Address the Evolving Threat of Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Africa§.
In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Raffi Gregorian, UNOCT Director and Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General provided an overview of UNOCT programmes and initiatives in Africa, and invited feedback and input from civil society. Following this, there was an introduction to the UNOCT Programme Office in Nairobi, Kenya and the UNOCT Programme Office for Counter-Terrorism and Training in Africa in Rabat, Morocco.
The Civil Society Roundtable Series has 3 objectives:
- First, to encourage the CSOs to engage with UNOCT on policy and programmatic issues, so that UNOCT initiatives in Africa are informed by experiences and insights from diverse local, regional and international contexts.
- The second, to provide civil society representatives with an opportunity to gain deeper understanding of UNOCT activities and priorities in Africa, ensuring they benefit from new knowledge and insights relevant to their work.
- The third, to strengthen the culture of dialogue and partnership between civil society and UNOCT to ensure that the initiatives implemented in Africa safeguard human rights and the civic space.
Given the evolving terrorism threat and the high-level of engagement by UNOCT in Africa, UNOCT values feedback, perspectives, experiences and challenges from civil society from different contexts across the continent and further afield.
