The 41-nation Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) hosted a forum in Riyadh on May 21, 2017 to explore, discuss and converge on approaches to counter extremism and fight against terrorism.
The forum, organized by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), explored ideas and notions on the theme “the Nature of Extremism and the Future of Terrorism”.
The forum was graced with the participation of the most prominent regional and global personalities and subject experts. Synergy combined on one platformresulted inexploration of the nature and types of terrorism, it’s future picture, the role of social media in terrorism and how to deal with the overall global scenario.
The forum also highlighted the background and outcomes of extremism and addressed the possible and effective solutions to counter terrorism.
The IMCTC brought together 41 member countries to achieve joint coordination in political, ideological, intellectual, communications, economic and military efforts to counter terrorism as well as join the international effort in maintaining global security and peace.
The forum received significant attention locally, regionally and globally, given the importance of issues tackled, number of participants and the unique position of Saudi Arabia being the organizer of the event. Saudi Arabia, the host country of the forum, has a long history and notable expertise in the field of counter terrorism and religious extremism.
Extremism and terrorism represent a global challenge with a demonstrated capacity to operate on a global scale and with a global reach. This factrequiresimmediate and effective resolution from numerous dimensions. Thus, the forum brought together honorary guests from diverse backgrounds who specialize in dealing with multi-faced extremism and terrorism.
Due to a great number of specialized political and academic panel experts, the forum was spread over four sessions. All four sessions witnessed diverse participation with a total of 26counter terrorism regional and global experts brainstorming and moderating the event.
Addressing the forum, Dr. Saud Al-Sarhan, Secretary-General of the KFCRIS said, “Extremism and terrorism are considered thelargestthreat against the peaceful world since the second world war. Its dangerous impact exceeds the boundaries of the region and forms a threat against all countries in the world.”
Saudi Arabia hosting this event to exchange debate and knowledge in the related field reaffirmeditscontinual commitment towards international security and peace. The event also sought that the Riyadh Forum becomes a global platform to counter terrorism, based on Riyadh’s commitment to combat terrorism out of the country’s religious and moral obligation towards other countries.
Riyadh Forums emphasized one some critical points need to be taken into consideration in order to understand terrorism and provide solutions to combat it, such as:
The causes of terrorism and extremism are not solely religious, but also personal, social, and political. All these causes need to be dealt with by preparing an appropriate ground on both social and political levels.
The wars and civil strife are also considered one of the causes of terrorism and extremism and an important source to attract terrorist organizations.
Terrorism does not emerge from Islamic countries only, but also from non-Islamic countries. Therefore, all countries around the world must unite their dealing mechanisms and common perspectives and share intelligence information among them in order to combat terrorism.
The integrated intellectual, communicational, social and military approach Kingdom of Saudi Arabia adopt in countering terrorism is considered a role model worldwide.
The world should also prepare for post-Daesh-defeat phase given to the enormous defeats this terrorist organization is facing and the importance of undermining any attempts by the organization to reposition itself.
IMCTC, led by KSA, is a qualitative step in the field of countering terrorism during the last few years, especially due to incapability of any country to face terrorism all alone.