Panel Discussions - Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Promoting Deradicalization and Disengagement from Violent Extremism
The International Peace Institute partnered with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convene experts, practitioners, and United Nations officials for a roundtable conference on “Promoting Deradicalization and Disengagement from Violent Extremism: What Role for the International Community and the UN?”
The event, held on June 23rd, highlighted important critiques, challenges, and successes facing a number of initiatives aimed at persuading detainees to renounce violent behavior or ideologies.
The speakers included:
• Omar Ashour on conditions for successful disengagement from violence;
• Ed Husain on civil society initiatives to counter radicalization, and their impact on deradicalization;
• Peter Neumann on lessons learned from fifteen countries’ experiences with deradicalization in prisons;
• Hamed El Said on presenting case studies from Muslim-majority states;
• Abdulrahman Al-Hadlaq on the national experiences of Saudi Arabia;
• Mohammed Zaini Akhir on the national experiences of Malaysia;
• Jean-Paul Laborde from the UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force;
• E.J. Flynn from the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate;
• Francesco Candelari from the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; and
• Richard Barrett from the Al-Qaida/Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team.
The meeting was opened by Francesco Mancini, Senior Fellow and Director of Research at IPI, and Carl Salicath, representing the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also moderated the panels, along with Naureen Chowdhury Fink, IPI Senior Policy Analyst.
This roundtable was a follow-up to a very successful conference co-hosted in Amman by IPI, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Arab Thought Forum on “Countering Violent Extremism: Learning from Deradicalization Programs in Some Muslim-majority States,” in March 2010 (read the meeting note). In addition, an earlier conference also co-hosted by IPI and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs resulted in the report Beyond Terrorism: Deradicalization and Disengagement from Violent Extremism.
A comprehensive report on this topic is being undertaken at IPI and is anticipated in winter 2010.
The Global Observatory
Interview with John Prendergast, Co-Founder, Enough Project
Mr. Prendergast discusses the international justice system and the new ground forged by Invisible Children's Kony2012 campaign.
Key Global Events to Watch in May
A list of key upcoming meetings and events with implications for global affairs.
The Global Observatory is a new website by IPI, providing timely analysis on peace and security issues, interviews with leading policymakers, interactive maps, and more.
Recent Events
May 10, 2012
Arbour: What the Rule of Law Means
“In my understanding of the rule of law, fundamentally, what the rule of law means is that it embraces the principle of equality before the law,” Louise Arbour, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG), told an IPI audience on May 10, 2012. Ms. Arbour outlined that this means that no one is above the law and everyone has both equal protection and equal benefit of the law. 
May 03, 2012
Shachtman: Cyber Threats Akin to South Bronx, Not Pearl Harbor
“There’s not a danger of a cyber Pearl Harbor… it’s more like the South Bronx circa 1999, where there’s a danger that it becomes such a tough neighborhood that no one wants to set up shop there and people move out,” Noah Shachtman, editor of the Danger Room blog at Wired magazine and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, told an IPI audience at a panel on cyber security on May 3, 2011.
April 27, 2012
Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems
An April 27th roundtable discussion at IPI titled “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems” examined the progress, prospects and challenges of regional and international early warning and response mechanisms to monitor, anticipate, and mitigate potential conflict situations in Africa.