A high level Meeting to invest in the Peace and the Prevention of Violence in West Africa and Sahel
The Office of the United Nations for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the International institute of Peace (IPI) and the federal Department of the foreign affairs of the Swiss Confederation (DFAE), organized a high level meeting on the theme: “To invest in the Peace and the Prevention of Violence in West Africa and Sahel”.
The meeting, first in its kind, gathered during two days in Dakar, 27th and 28th of June, 2016, about fifty experts, representatives of regional and international organizations, members of the diplomatic corps, governments, civil society, as well as media.
The meeting of Dakar focused on the urgency to give a coherent and effective answer which privileges the investment in the peace and the prevention of violence as functions of the inclusive governance and equitable development.
In this regard, the participants used the Action Plan of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (A/70/674) of December 2015 as a reference in their discussions in order to identify durable effective measures and policies to prevent the violent extremism.
The discussions took for starting point the realities of local, national and regional perceptions of the violent extremism in the sahélo-Saharan space. The participants highlighted multiple experiences of prevention and underlined the effectiveness of the approaches based on the political, social and economic inclusivity as a mechanism to supporting the emergence of alternatives to violence and the violent extremism.
The organizers requested the participants’ views on the need and on the best way of continuing such a discussion through actions/projects/concrete initiatives presented during the meeting, on the sub-regional level and beyond.
Echoing on the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the organizers also recalled at the end of the meeting, the need for the international community to act with synergy for a coordinated and inclusive approach to tackle the propagation of intolerance and hate in the world.
The organizers also committed to continuing their common engagement through the support to local, national and regional initiatives aiming at implementing initiatives and projects to enhance the prevention of violence and to promote peace.
A report containing the questions and the various approaches discussed during this meeting as well as the recommendations suggested by the participants will be published soon.
UNOWAS, IPI and the DFAE will organize on July in IPI Headquarters, in New York, a restitution of the conclusions of this meeting