The Conference confirmed the necessity for an active involvement at all levels in the fight against terrorism and radicalization as planned for in the Bamako Declaration on Democracy, Rights and Freedoms, and in the Saint Boniface Declaration (2006) on Conflict Prevention and Human Security.

The Conference also allowed the sharing of successful practices and extensive analyses aiming at improving the understanding of the phenomena of terrorism and violent radicalization and their underlying causes, and also at identifying approaches and orientations in order to develop appropriate strategic directions and actions as required by Member States.

UNESCO’s representative, Dr Boyan Radoykov, from the Knowledge Societies Division, congratulated the organizers for the holding of this important initiative, presented the various cross-sectoral activities of the Organization in this domain and emphasized the expectations for concrete operational activities and targeted preventive actions of a larger magnitude, that are structural and multidimensional. Dr Radoykov also stated in his intervention: “We must acknowledge that the fight against violent extremism cannot be won only by force of the weapons, the repression or the online censorship. The real battle we will have to win, if we want the rule of reason to prevail over the rule of force, is that of the minds of the youth, is that of their hearts, is that for the ideals and the universal values ​​of our civilization”.

In his discussion with Ms Michaëlle Jean, Secrétaire générale de la Francophonie and Mr Adama Ouane, Administrateur de l’OIF, the opportunities for future collaboration were evoked and namely the contribution of the OIF to the forthcoming conference organized by UNESCO in the framework of its Information for All Programme (IFAP), in Quebec, later this year on Internet and the Radicalization of Youth.

Several participants acknowledged in their interventions the importance of the work undertaken by UNESCO since 2014 in fighting youth radicalization in cyberspace and in preventing violent extremism by sensitizing and mobilizing the UN family, academia, decision-makers, civil society and the private sector about the related huge challenges and the respective responsibilities.