UNICRI, UNOCT and ICSS hold first National Focal Points Regional Forum for Africa
THE International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and its partners the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) along with representatives of the Republic of Senegal joined forces to host the first National Focal Points (NFPs) Regional Forum for Africa.
The event, which took place in Dakar, Senegal on 0 November-1 December, aims to be a reference event in Africa to engage high level policy-makers, stakeholders and youth in terms of major sporting events (MSE) and to build resilience to violent extremism.
The Forum was organized within the framework of the multi-year Global Programme on the Security Major Sporting Events, and Promotion of Sport and Its Values as a Tool to Prevent Violent Extremism (Global Sports Programme), an initiative supported by the State of Qatar, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of orea as donors.
The Global Programme is aimed at strengthening the protection of MSE through enhanced international cooperation and sustainable security approaches while promoting the values of sport as a powerful means to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism.
During the two-day event, partners have introduced the Global Sports Programme and the Global Guide on the Security of Major Sporting Events Promoting Sustainable Security Legacies produced by the Global Programme.
The Forum was an opportunity to overview Global Sports Programme’s security outputs and national perspectives on sport for preventing violent extremism. It also provided an
e-training and practical group exercise to help participants understand in greater depth how to identify challenges on major sport events safety and security and prevention of extremism using the values of sport as elaborated by the Global Sports Programme, paving the way for future integrated workshops and training for African countries.
Diogo Guia, Director of Sport Public Policy, ICSS, said This Forum, which kicks start a new partnership with African
countries, offers a unique opportunity in supporting them to build national capacities in terms of sport security and the use of sport to prevent violent extremism.
The Global Programme is gaining pace as more and more to provide assistance in this field to many countries such as Cameroun, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Maldives.
We reaffirm our strong commitment to continuing to provide technical assistance and enhance policy coordination and
practical cooperation towards making instruments of security of major sporting events and the use of sport to combat extremism more inclusive.
The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS)
The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) is a global, independent and non-profit organisation. It works tirelessly to address some of the most prominent challenges and issues facing the world of sport today, as well as to protect it from
emerging and future threats. Having brought together respected leaders from sport, government agencies, law enforcement, international organisations, academia and the business community, the ICSS has an established team of experts in the fields of sport, international cooperation and event safety and security, sport integrity and socio-economic development. Through its services and with the support of its donors, the ICSS has been able to invest in several pioneering initiatives to
safeguard sport – from initiating the first-ever research into the scale of manipulation of sports competitions as part of the Sorbonne-ICSS Sport Integrity Research Programme (2012-2014), to working with the international organisations leading to the development of advanced policies in different fields pertaining to the protection of sport – the ICSS continues to make an impact through project expansion and building new programmes in collaboration with its partners.