NewsConference on Peace and Prevention of Violent Extremism Yields Results

STATEMENT OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE CONFERENCE ON PEACE AND THE PREVENTION OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM
Manila, Philippines
22-23 September 2017

We, the participants of the Conference on Peace and the Prevention of Violent Extremism in Southeast Asia, held in Manila, Philippines, comprising of leaders from the government, ASEAN civil society, women, youth, business, academia, religious and political organizations;

Realizing the threat posed by violent extremism—exacerbated by the attempts of violent extremist groups such as ISIS to gain foothold in our communities—to our security, democracy, and prosperity;

Understanding the need to prevent such violent extremism–including those resulting from state actions–and defend our communities from radicalization;

Understanding further the role of ASEAN civil society, the imperative of collective action, and the overcoming of our differences, in order to effectively counter violent extremism;

Reaffirming the principles laid out in the Joint Communiqué of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Manila, Philippines last 5 August 2017 including “our commitment to regionalism and multilateralism as important principles and frameworks of cooperation to promote regional and international peace, stability, prosperity and progress;”

Reaffirming further the Joint Communiqué’s declaration of the “importance and effectiveness of the whole-of-nation approach as opposed to a purely military option in combating the problem, including through preventive education, involvement of women and youth and civil society, promotion of peace, tolerance, respect for diversity and moderation as a counter-narrative, and more effective use and more effective measures in preventing the misuse of internet, social media and cyberspace for terrorist activities through countering terrorist messages online”;

Asserting the critical role played by women, youth, religious, business, academia, politics and government in inculcating the culture of peace, tolerance, moderation, democracy, rule of law and human rights to our people as effective means of preventing radicalization;

Recognizing the important role played by social media and technology in the recruitment of ISIS and the radicalization of some of our people as well as in our collective efforts to defend our communities, especially the youth against radicalization;

Reaffirming the principles and action agenda committed to by the 10 ASEAN Member States in the Manila Declaration to Counter the Rise of Radicalization and Violent Extremism that was adopted during the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime last 20 September 2017;

Recognizing that responding to these threats require a conflict-sensitive, peace-promoting, comprehensive, sustainable, multi-level and inclusive approach;

DO HEREBY AGREE TO:

1. Strengthen multi-sectoral convergence in addressing the “drivers of conflicts” and the root causes of violent extremism—poverty, social injustice and inequities, marginalization, deprivation and alienation, especially of the women and the youth, and intolerance;

2. Increase our efforts at sharing experiences and learning from the initiatives of others by continuously improving our networking, communications and collaborations;

3. Strengthen our work towards winning the “hearts and minds” of our people by enhancing education programs designed to inculcate the values of peace, tolerance, respect, and our commitment to the rule of law, democracy, social justice, human rights and freedom;

4. Continue our work with religious leaders and scholars and other stakeholders to counter the extremists’ misappropriation of religious doctrines to preach the use of violence; strengthen our education system, in particular the Madrassah, in inculcating the right values to the youth, and, create platforms for both intercultural/intracultural and interfaith and intrafaith dialogue;

5. Empower ASEAN youth to participate in countering extremism through, among others, developing messages and counter narratives that will resonate with young people being targeted by violent extremists;

6. Engage women, who are at the forefront of effects of violent extremism, and as such cannot be ignored in any action plan to counter violent extremism;

7. Strengthen our strategies in cyberspace and social media allowing our people to build peaceful communities online, challenging messages of violence, hate and intolerance with positive messages of trust, counter narratives, and acceptance of our diversity;

8. Encourage regional and international partners to continue supporting civil society and
community-based efforts towards a multi-sectoral approach to preventing violent extremism;

9. Strengthen our resolve and effort to engage and empower the youth and women as the focal and priority group of deradicalization measures of the government and civil society;

10. Use the knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned shared at the Conference to formulate and develop inputs for submission to the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) in the development of an ASEAN Plan of Action to prevent and counter the rise of violent extremism as well as that of national action plans of other ASEAN Member States.