Baku - On 18 June 2020, the Chief of IOM Mission to Azerbaijan Vladimir Gjorgjiev was invited to participated as a speaker in the Panel Discussion held within the online conference on the “Radicalization, Terrorism and Deradicalization: Perspectives from Azerbaijan” organized by the prominent ADA University. The main subject of the discussion was the role of education in preventing radicalization and deradicalization, agenda of the international organizations in counter-terrorism measures to address extremism/ radicalization of individuals and social inclusion policies of the government in preventing radicalization.

During the plenary session, Chief of Mission Vladimir Gjorgjiev talked about main root causes and key drivers of violent extremism and radicalization which in his opinion are complex and multidimensional, such as issues of social marginalization; a sense of injustice; perceived historical injustices, losing the individual identity, to name a few. As he said in his speech IOM recognizes that to prevent violent extremism, a comprehensive approach that brings together a range of actors including government agencies, academia, civil society, at-risk communities, private-public partnership, and UN/NGOs is what is needed. To be fully effective, it must be implemented alongside and in coordination with other strategically interlinked approaches, such as awareness raising, building capacities, improving education component etc. These are key activities of projects on “Preventing Violent Extremism and Community Resilience to Vulnerabilities” implemented by IOM Azerbaijan and funded (USAID) in close cooperation with the State Committee on Religious Associations of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

“We all know that no one is born a violent extremist. As a prevention our main aim is to recognize and strengthen the resilience from the violent extremism and promote civic engagement, with skills for intercultural dialogue”, said Vladimir Gjorgjiev.

Talking about the ways to solve the problem the Chief of Mission noted that investing in education, research, strengthening institutional capacities, and youth engagement will create more opportunities for youth and improve their critical thinking.