Empowering Young People to Prevent Violent Extremism

The Kofi Annan Foundation, with the support of the European Commission, is launching an initiative aimed at empowering young people to prevent and counter extremism through peer-to-peer engagement and learning.

“All too often, young people are the victims and perpetrators of violence driven by extremist beliefs”, Kofi Annan said. “Yet, they are also on the front lines in responding to this threat; the courageous actions of young people across the globe needs to be highlighted, and widely shared”.

The Foundation will work with young people from around the world to both learn from and share their experiences in dealing with the dangers posed by religious, political or ideological extremism. The work will result in a set of easily accessible and well informed guidelines for young people on preventing and countering violent extremism.

EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, said: “Recent incidents have shown the clear need for decisive action to counter violent extremism. The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development adopted earlier this year already called to significantly reduce all forms of violence. That’s why we are pleased to work with the Kofi Annan foundation in this new initiative aiming at identifying drivers for youth extremism, and more generally of our work to empower people and promote community dialogue, in order to counter radicalising ideologies.”

This new initiative builds on from the Kofi Annan Foundation’s earlier work and engagement with young people, which can be found at www.kofiannanfoundation.org. For more information on the European Commission’s engagement in countering violent extremism: please click here: http://eeas.europa.eu/fight-against-terrorism/index_en.htm.

Contact at the Kofi Annan Foundation
Bijan Farnoudi: Farnoudi@kofiannanfoundation