U N I T E D N A T I O N S 
N A T I O N S U N I E S
REMARKS OF H.E. MR. NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL-NASSER
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS
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REMARKS AT INTERACTIVE PANEL ON PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR FOSTERING PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES AND COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
April 21, 2015
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to address you once again today.
This morning when I opened the session, I made four concrete observations related to Combating Violent Extremism “CVE”.
CVE is a process that needs programs, as a means to ensure that we take actions that are practical and effective and pro-active.
Briefly, my views meant the following actions to eradicate the environment conducive to the emergence and spread of extremism:
First, we must build trust within local communities and between states at differences or conflicts.
Second we need to employ human centered approaches. By this, I mean we must ensure a strong sensitivity to context, particularly by listening deeply to the concerns and experiences of communities that have long struggled with violence and violent extremism.
We must also commit to a long-term partnerships that take into account our acceptance of each other, knowing in the same time that, our collaborators on the ground are assured of our support;
Third, while being human-centered, we need to willfully and honestly work as the providers who build the capacity of local communities to handle their own affairs, because the truth is that we are not going to be sticking around forever.
Fourth our commitment should always be toward creating behavioral shifts that are measurable positive social changes.
I want to emphasize this last point ahead of our panel, because I know that CVE is an area of activity that we, the international community, have had some political and cultural difficulty in showing measurable results in.
However, we can still cure this difficulty, gradually, and by building on our small bricks of success, rather than just wishing to fix the world in one action.
By bringing together insights from interactive and intellectual forums alongside the invaluable experience of actors on the ground, we can significantly improve our approach.
At the end of the day, our focus, during this discussion at least, must always remain on, building societies that are peaceful and inclusive ones.
As High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, I believe that we can do so through focusing on youth challenges, educational shortcomings, the constructive use of media, the realistic consideration of migration and globalization issues, and to make the best use of religious mediation that our religious leaders can provide.
We know that this requires a broad range of actions.
This requires, as I said before, broad range of activities under an international umbrella of sincere cooperation.
For global success we need global action.
That said, with great excitement for the upcoming discussion, I will hand over now to the moderator Ms. Pamela Falk.
Thank you.