Terrorism activities have intensified in the Sahel, particularly in the Liptako-Gourma region, along the borders between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. As extremist groups exploit grievances to recruit new members, Sahelian countries are working toward implementing effective and whole-of-society criminal justice approaches to counter terrorism and violent extremism.
Dialogue, diversity, and promotion of understanding, particularly in the fields of education and religion, are prevalent elements in programmes dedicated to preventing and countering violent extremism. In this regard, Mali developed a
national policy in 2017 to implement a whole-of-society approach to prevent violent extremism (PVE) and terrorism. Prevention, protection, prosecution, reaction, and social cohesion constitute the basis of the Strategy and its national action plan adopted in 2022.
According to the
United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, a key element in successfully preventing and countering terrorism is tackling the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism. Therefore, as part of its efforts to support Member States in PVE, UNODC delivered a national workshop on “
Implementing Multi-Sectoral and Whole-of-Society Approaches to Strengthen the Resilience to Violent Extremism and Radicalization of Communities and Vulnerable Groups” in Bamako on 13-15 June. The workshop was held in cooperation with the Permanent Secretary in charge of implementing the Malian national PVE Strategy and action plan.
