Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
And all of the young leaders here today,
Allow me to begin by thanking our host country and my colleague Under-Secretary-General Voronkov for holding this conference on a priority challenge not only for the Arab League, but for all countries.
Empowering youth leadership and building resilience to radicalization leading to terrorism and to crime are central to our prevention work at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
With social media and the Internet, terrorist groups have ever-broader reach to recruit and bring young people under their malign influence.
New vulnerabilities continue to emerge. Prevention cannot depend on anticipating how terrorist groups might find new ways of exploiting and abusing connectivity to spread violent ideologies.
What we can and should do more of, however, is strengthen our defences against these fast moving, evolving threats.
We can educate and engage young people, enabling them to see through twisted and malign terrorist narratives, and work together for tolerance and peace.
Drawing on the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Secretary-General's Plan of Action on Preventing Violent Extremism, UNODC assists governments in building such comprehensive responses.
We support countries to strengthen justice system responses to terrorism, including to the recruitment and exploitation of young people.
We help to develop legal, institutional and policy frameworks and action plans to detect and deter the exploitation and recruitment of youth to terrorism, particularly through online spaces.
UNODC further provides capacity building and resources to policymakers, criminal justice authorities and practitioners on effective disengagement, repatriation, criminal proceedings, rehabilitation and social re-integration of youth.
We promote partnerships with civil society and the private sector, including cooperation with IT corporations and social media service providers.
UNODC prevention work also prioritizes education and sports-based learning to promote a culture of lawfulness and build youth resilience.
Excellencies,
Investing in youth leadership is an investment in the future, and a key to breaking the cycle of radicalization to violence.
This meeting is an opportunity to further strengthen these efforts in Arab League countries.
It is a chance to explore how governments and the UN can do more to advance meaningful consultation with young people and youth organizations, to help them make their voices heard and empower them to take a leading role in preventing and responding to violent extremism leading to terrorism.
UNODC is here to support you.
Thank you, and I wish you productive discussions.