Voices from Mali: Malian youth speak up to prevent violent extremism
"Voices from Mali" aims at sharing the experiences of the Malian youth pursuing peace and justice in their communities.
UNICRI and the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT-The Hague) are implementing the project Mali (Dis-)Engagement and Re-Integration related to Terrorism (MERIT) to support efforts to prevent violent extremism, facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremist offenders and mitigate the risk of radicalization.
The initiative is supported by the Royal Danish Embassy in Bamako. The project is implemented in close collaboration with several local partners and implementers.
These interviews were released during the Advanced Media Training for Malian Youth designed and developed by UNICRI and ICCT in collaboration with Think Peace, Conseil National de la Jeunesse, International Alert and SNV-ICCO-OXFAM. The training sessions were conducted by experts from the Malian media NGO, Tuwindi.
The objective of the training course was to promote knowledge of the media and enhance critical thinking in order to allow young people to recognise violent propaganda and to resist to all forms of indoctrination, radicalization, and hate speech.
As acknowledged by the Security Council resolution 2250 (2015) “today’s generation of youth is the largest the world has ever known” and the international community shall “consider ways to increase inclusive representation of youth in decision-making at all levels in local, national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict, including institutions and mechanisms to counter violent extremism.”