While military and security responses to violence and its multifaceted consequences in the Sahel-Sahara region may be necessary, they have limits, and have, at times, produced adverse results. Alternative strategies that leverage the resilience capacities of local communities in the region remain understudied and undervalued. These alternatives were the focus of a recent meeting in […]
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While there has been an increase in security responses to violent extremism in the Sahel-Sahara, these responses have shown their limits. At the same time, successful regional experiences building resilience and proposing concrete and credible alternatives to violence remain understudied and undervalued.To promote regional conversations around such experiences, the International Peace Institute (IPI), the UN […]
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In the past decade, counterterrorism measures have had an increasingly adverse impact on the provision of medical care and the conduct of principled humanitarian action in armed conflict settings. Whether inadvertently or not, they have impeded, and at times prevented, the provision of essential and lifesaving aid, often in violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).This […]
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While narratives around the conflict in Mali often focus on violent extremism and terrorist threats, particularly targeted attacks against the United Nations mission in the country (MINUSMA), there are increasing concerns related to the protection of civilians from different types of threats. Following the Secretary-General’s Strategic Review of MINUSMA and amidst the mandate renewal of […]
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On June 24 and 25th, 2018, the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of Switzerland, and the African Union’s Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) organized the third regional conversations on the prevention of violent extremism: “Investing […]
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Counterterrorism measures are developed to ensure individual and collective security in response to terrorist attacks, but there is growing evidence that counterterrorism measures can infringe upon the protection of civilians by inhibiting the provision of assistance and protection. This tension was the subject of an IPI policy forum on May 23rd, entitled, “The Protection of […]
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The dual “sustaining peace” resolutions adopted by the Security Council and General Assembly in April 2016 did not mention how this concept might be applied to responses to violent extremism. Nonetheless, given the failure of existing responses and the constantly evolving, multi-faceted nature of the problem, there is a clear need to examine the issue […]
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Violent extremism expresses itself in different ways, depending on the context, and can manifest itself at every level and across every dimension of societies. In order to be innovative and context-specific, therefore, efforts to prevent violent extremism and invest in peace need to be grounded in joint and collaborative action between communities and local, national, […]
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The United Nations’ chief humanitarian officer in the Sahel region of Africa said that Nigeria was key to saving the region’s people from the ravages of the terrorist group Boko Haram, but that it needed the help of the international community to do so.Toby Lanzer, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, […]
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Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) got an important boost from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but will need another with the likelihood of a less supportive government in Washington.That view was expressed at an IPI policy forum by Eric Rosand, Director of the Prevention Project: Organizing Against Violent Extremism, and a senior counterterrorism official at the US State […]
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