The Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a seminar on fighting extremism on the sidelines of the seventh meeting of the Board of Directors of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. The seminar was attended by the Secretariat of the Fund and all relevant actors who fight violent extremism and the departments concerned at the Ministries; including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, academic and research institutions, a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations.
The seminar aimed at uniting efforts in combating violent extremism, benefiting from international expertise, introducing Qatar's efforts in confronting extremism and helping communities' resilience. In addition, introducing Qatar's financial contribution to the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF). The three sessions of the seminar discussed combating violent extremism and publicize the efforts of civil society organizations in the State of Qatar, the importance of job creation in limiting the violent extremism among young people, discussing ways of preventing it, education contribution in fighting violent extremism, the role of the national institutions in conflict areas and international disputes.
The participants stressed the importance of "peace, rapid response efforts, development, national reconciliation, social and transitional justice, education and social harmony in fighting violent extremism, indicating that education is the safety valve for any society because due to its key role in peacekeeping, immunization of societies against extremism and violence, which is also considered as a necessary solution to all societies.
In this context, H.E. Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, the Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister for Counterterrorism and Mediation of Conflict Resolution, explained the role of the State of Qatar and the considerable undertaken efforts at the regional and international levels in mediation and conflict prevention, youth empowerment, access to education, elimination of unemployment, citing the role and initiatives of national institutions. Such as Al-Fakhoora Program, Child Education Initiative and the Education Above All Foundation in promoting education and job creation in conflict areas, where the State contributes to providing educational opportunities for more than seven million children in more than 47 countries; through its contributions to the Fund in all active institutions in the violent extremism system.
For his part, Major General Abdul Aziz Al Ansari, Chairman of Qatar's National Counter Terrorism Committee, pointed out to non-existence of violent extremism in Qatar and ascribed this to several factors; the most important of which are social, political and economic stability, social coherence, the high level of education, the significant role played by civil society institutions and media, in preventing this scourge.
Noting that as the State of Qatar believes in the importance of prevention, and given the circumstances that engulf the region, hence, has launched a national strategy to combat violent extremism, and terrorism that focused on prevention and protection of community internally, and punish the perpetrators, noting that this strategy was discussed with the stakeholders concerned, then it was sent to the United Nations for consideration.
In the same context, Mrs. Sabah Al Haidous, CEO of Silatech Foundation, reviewed the Foundation's efforts in combating unemployment and providing a decent life for community members. Noting that the Foundation provided more than 500.000 job opportunity in the Arab world, which had contributed in drying up the sources of terrorism, directing youth, and prevent their marginalization, especially most of these efforts have been exerted in marginalized-border areas and close to the conflict.
She explained that the Foundation managed to reach poor families, trained, qualified, and supported them in cooperation with UN and international organizations and in areas where many humanitarian organizations fled in Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and others; through offering soft loans, electronic platforms.