Within the framework of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Turkic Council Project Directors Assan Mazhitov, Pelin Musabay Baki, Ali Çiviler and Ceyhun Şahverdiyev, participated in a Global Solutions Exchange Event entitled "Innovations in Civil Society and other Locally-Led Efforts to Prevent Violent Extremism and Build Social Cohesion and Resilience" co-hosted by the Prevention Project and International Civil Society Action Network on 21 September 2017 in New York.
Global Solutions Exchange is a mechanism for regular high-level civil society-government dialogue on issues related to preventing extremism. GSX partners lead thematic, cross-regional working groups on critical topics pertaining to the rise of extremism and related violence to enable in-depth interactions between civil society, government, and multilateral actors.
In opening session GSX speakers, such as H.E. Anders Samuelson, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Ambassador Manuel Sager, Director General of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Ms. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Executive Director of International Civil Society Action Network and others highlighted the progress made on the preventing violent extremism agenda in 2017 from the perspective of civil society, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The opening ceremony was followed by four panel sessions on a ‘Whole of Society’ approach to Prevention, Supporting the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Violent Extremists, Engaging Cities, Local Authorities, and Grassroots Prevention Networks and Safeguarding the Legal, Political and Operational Space for Civil Society and Other Local Actors to Engage in PVE.
Project Directors had the contacts with the organizers and the participants of GSX and informed them about the results of the International Conference on “The Role of Youth in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism” co-organized by the Turkic Council and the UN Alliance Civilizations (UNAOC) in October 2016. On this occasion, the Project Directors also conveyed information on the concrete cooperation project planned to be carried out together with the UN Development Program.
