GMMF to collaborate with Unesco in preventing violent extremism

KUALA LUMPUR: The Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF) is to collaborate with Unesco to address the importance of educational initiatives within the context of countering and preventing violent extremism.

GMMF executive chairman and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Nasharudin Mat Isa said a closer collaboration with Unesco was important, especially in addressing the balance between national and religious identities or cultures, which at times were manipulated by extremist groups.

“The importance of education and empowerment of the younger generation is essential. Youth play a major role in shaping the future, which is why GMMF introduced initiatives geared towards youth empowerment through national and regional programmes,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The agreement on GMMFUnesco collaboration was achieved during a meeting held on Wednesday between Nasharudin and the Director for Inclusion, Peace and Sustainable Development of the Unesco education sector, Soo-hyang Choi, at the Unesco office in Paris.

Arranged and attended by the Malaysian Permanent Delegate to Unesco, Dr Anesee Ibrahim, the meeting was part of the GMMF engagement trip in Europe, held from Jan 3 to 7, in light of Malaysia’s Resolution on Moderation adopted at the UN General Assembly on Dec 8 last year.

Nasharudin also expressed at the meeting GMMF’s support to Unesco in organising programmes aimed at raising awareness about Unesco’s Global Citizenship Education in the Southeast Asian region, as well as to jointly convene one of Unesco’s key conferences in 2019.

The engagement trip initiative is aimed at identifying key stakeholders worldwide to undertake programmes to further embed the values of moderation as a culture of peace, especially as GMMF heightens its gears toward the 2019 International Year of Moderation.

The GMMF engagement trip in Europe was mobilised with the assistance of both the Malaysian Embassy in Paris and the Office of the Permanent Delegation of Malaysia to Unesco.

Meanwhile, Nasharudin said, the trip was productive as he managed to hold a meeting with the French Institute of International Relations to develop further discourses on moderation within the pretext of countering and preventing violent extremismbased initiatives related to religious extremism.

He also spoke at a conference organised by the Council of Europe in Paris that seeks to foster a culture of peace, delivered a lecture on the Global Movement of Moderates with Malaysian students in Toulouse, as well as spoke on GMMF, education and peaceful coexistence during a radio talk show with Frenchbased Monte Carlo Al Dauliyah.