In the margins of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, the IIJ held an online side event on Countering the Transnational Threat of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE) – a challenge the Institute has been at the forefront of addressing through our IIJ REMVE Initiative. This important event was co-hosted by the Governments of Sweden and the United States.
The senior officials all highlighted the important contribution of the recently published IIJ Criminal Justice Practitioner’s Guide for Addressing REMVE as a resource for both governmental and non-governmental actors. The Guide, available in multiple languages, is available for download now.
Senior policy officials from the U.S. Department of State (Mr. Irfan Saeed, Acting Deputy Coordinator for Terrorism Prevention and Detention, Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism, United States of America), Sweden (Dr. Anna-Carin Svensson, Director-General for International Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Kingdom of Sweden), the United Kingdom (Mr. Rob Macaire CMG, Director, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the UN Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) (Mr. Raffi Gregorian, Director and Deputy to the Under-Secretary- General, UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) discussed key challenges in the REMVE space. Topics included recent developments in recruitment, propaganda and plotting by REMVE actors, and the primary challenges governments face in working to counter the urgent transnational threats such activities pose.
During the event, the U.S. Department of State also formally announced the establishment of a new Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Forum to serve as a venue for senior officials to engage in dialogue and coordination on issues of common concern related to international cooperation to counter REMVE threats.
For more information on this event, or the IIJ REMVE Initiative, contact Programme Manager Winthrop Wells.
