The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, will be the keynote speaker of the closing session of the Madrid+10 Policy Dialogue on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. Ten years ago, another UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, also participated in a Club de Madrid Conference, the ‘Madrid Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security’. The main outcome from that meeting was the Madrid Agenda, that will be serving as starting point to this Madrid+10 Policy Dialogue. The 2005 document stated that military means alone are not enough to tackle terrorism and violent extremism. Click here to see the preliminary list of participants and the tentative program.
The current Prime Minister of Tunisia, Habid Essid, will be the keynote speaker of the Welcome Session while Ban Ki-moon will highlight the closing panel along with the President of the Club de Madrid and former President of Latvia, Vaira Vike Freiberga, Danilo Turk, Club de Madrid Member and former President of Slovenia and John Alderdice from the UK House of Lords.
During the Policy dialogue, 40 Club de Madrid Members, all of them democratically elected former Presidents and PM’s from all around the world, plus 200 high level experts from the academia, civil society and grass root organizations will produce and sign the document entitled “Global Consensus” a new set of principles on how to prevent and fight violent extremism and radicalization.
The gathering is organized by the Club de Madrid and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) based in King’s College London with the European Commission, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department of United States as main partners.
Besides the intervention of Ban Ki-moon, the Madrid+10 Policy Dialogue (Madrid, Palacio Municipal de Congresos, 27-28 October) will be enriched with the contributions of an impressive list of 250 political leaders and high level experts from across the world in the search of the smartest and long term political responses to radicalization and violent extremism, one of the most dangerous threats democracies around the globe are facing today.
The line-up includes the current Prime Minister of Tunisia, Habid Essid, two ministers from the Government of Spain, José García Margallo (Foreign Affairs) and Jorge Fernández Díaz (Interior) the Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena and 40 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from all around the world, including, among many others: the President of the Club de Madrid and former President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga; Kjell Magne Bondevik (Norway); John Bruton (Ireland); Wim Kok (The Netherlands); Yves Letterme (Belgium); Danilo Turk (Slovenia); José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain); Fuad Siniora (Lebanon); Sadiq Al Mahdi (Sudan); Mehdi Jomaa and Mehdi Jebali (Tunisia); Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria); Cassam Uteem (Mauritius); Felipe Calderón (México); Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica); Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil) Ricardo Lagos and Sebastián Piñera (Chile); Jorge Tuto Quiroga (Bolivia); Andrés Pastrana (Colombia); Roza Otunbayeva (Kyrgyzstan); José Manuel Ramos-Horta (East Timor) and Jennifer Mary Shipley (New Zealand).
Among our partners and participants there will also be prominent names in preventing and countering violent extremism from different sectors, such as: Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muaammar, Secretary-General of the KAICIID; Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development of the European Commision; Sarah Sewall, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, U.S. State Department; Hanif Qadir, Founder of the Active Change Foundation and former extremist, discussing New Approaches towards Preventing Violent Extremism and Jean Paul Laborde, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).
All of these high level experts and policy makers will work on what will be the main outcome of this Policy Dialogue, a document titled #GlobalConsensus, a statement spelling out the common values, assumptions, and principles that stand the best chance of achieving real, sustainable progress in the struggle against violent extremism.
Following its presentation at the conference, the #GlobalConsensus will be available in the Madrid+10 online platform where different interlocutors and partners can read and sign on to it, sustaining the commitment and engaging in a debate on how its principles can be translated into policies, strategies and measures. This #GlobalConsensus will be signed by Club de Madrid Members, experts, policy makers, civil society organizations and international institutions everywhere in the world.
A social media campaign has been launched focused on the official hashtag of the Madrid+10 Policy Dialogue: #GlobalConsensus. This hashtag will capitalize on social media discussions and bring attention to the document, aimed at serving as a benchmark, resource and source of inspiration to political leaders on how to respond to the daunting challenge of radicalization and violent extremism.
Radicalization and violent extremism are one of the greatest threats currently undermining human rights and democratic values. Although the menace posed by groups like Daesh continue to create headlines, violent extremism is not limited to a specific region or religion. The cycle of violence triggered by extremism could be more damaging and destabilizing to global peace than any conflict since the end of the Cold War and is fuelling crises such as the massive internal displacement, and refugee exodus from the Middle East to the European countries.
In this context, with the support of the European Commission, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United States Department of State among other partners, the Club de Madrid and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) are launching a global dialogue to mobilize policy makers, opinion leaders, civil society and grassroots organizations to prevent and counter radicalization and violent extremism, increase public engagement and promote grassroots initiatives with long term policy solutions based on respect for democracy and human rights.
The policy dialogue will include four thematic workshops all of them focus on different dimensions of countering radicalization and violent extremism:
- Women, organized by Hedayah
- Education and youth, organized by Anna Lindh Foundation and IEMed
- Inter-religious and Intercultural dialogue, organized by KAICIID
- Online radicalization, organized by ICSR and TRENDS
IMPORTANT
All media must be accredited. To have access to the Policy Dialogue please send an email to Luis Pérez at lperez@clubmadrid.org or to Susana Mañueco at smanueco@clubmadrid.org including:
- Name and surname
- Date and place of birth
- Nationality
- ID Number
- Media
- Telephone and email contact
You can also find information about the accreditation process and interviews requests at the Club de Madrid website
Club de Madrid, Media Contacts:
Luis Pérez: +34 607 694 354 // + 34 91 154 82 38 Press Officer lperez@clubmadrid.org
Susana Mañueco: + 34 626 20 93 30 // + 34 154 82 36 Press Coordinator smanueco@clubmadrid.org
KAICIID, Media Contact for interviews:
Mariela Hoyer Starcevic: +43 664 887 24 068 Spanish Media Officer mariela.hoyer@kaiciid.org
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The Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization composed of more than 100 former presidents and prime ministers from 70 democratic countries. The Club de Madrid responds to a growing demand for support to address a number of challenges in democratic governance by providing the experience and valuable leadership of its members.
ICSR’s mission is to bring together knowledge and leadership. Producing first class, rigorous research, our aim is to educate the public and help policymakers and practitioners find more intelligent solutions in dealing with radicalization and political violence.
