Silatech took part in the activities of the State of Qatar during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.

The organization co-sponsored and organized a high-level meeting in collaboration with the State of Qatar and the Center for International Cooperation titled “Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and the SDG Agenda”.

The session was moderated by Ms. Sarah Cliffe, Director of The Center on International Cooperation, and keynote speakers were Dr. Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, Special Envoy of the Minister of the State of Qatar for Counterterrorism, Dispute of Settlements and Mediation, and Mr. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The interactive panel included Mr. Eric Rosand, Director of the Prevention Project: Organizing against Violent Extremism; Ms. Irene Khan, Director-General, International Development Law Organization (DLO); Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Youth Envoy; Ms. Sabah Al Haidoos, Chief Executive Officer of Silatech; Mr. Haras Rafiq, Chief Executive Officer of Quilliam Foundation International; Prof. Sanam Anderlini, Co-founder and Executive Director of ICAN; Dr. Reem Al-Ansari, PVE Expert, Professor of Law at Qatar University; Ms.Lolwah Alkhater, Lecturer at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Furthermore, Silatech’s CEO Ms. Al Haidoos presented a working paper on Silatech as a pioneering innovative model in addressing the youth unemployment challenge, Violent extremism and the creation of jobs for peace and prosperity.  The presentation also showcased Silatech’s model in in Conflict, Post-Conflict and Fragile areas, and the utilization of Policy & Research, Technology, and Innovation to reduce the cost of jobs on employers and enhance employability, as well as Enterprise Development programs which created job opportunities for more youth.

Silatech signs MoU with Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office / United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTITF-UNCCT)

Silatech signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office / United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTITF-UNCCT) that aims to counter extremism through youth empowerment and employability initiatives in an effort to contribute towards the implementation of the United Nations’ Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

The signing ceremony took place at the United Nations headquarters- Secretariat building in New York. The MoU was signed by Ms. Sabah Al Haidoos, Chief Executive Officer of Silatech, H.E Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, Foreign Minister’s special envoy on counter-terrorism and disputes’ settlements, and Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office.

The purpose of the MoU is to provide a framework which sets out the scope and modalities of the cooperation between MoFA, Silatech and CTITF-UNCCT To implement and expand joint initiatives in global regions of common interest, particularly in Africa and Asia, with the potential of including other partners. The aim of the initiatives is to enhance employability of young people. This is to be accomplished through linking youth to training, employment and microfinance opportunities to economically empower them in order to protect them from the risk of falling into the traps of extremism and violent extremism.

Commenting on the event, Silatech’s Chief Executive Officer Ms.Sabah Al Haidoos said: “This collaboration reflects the efforts of Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Silatech and CTITF-UNCCT to root out terrorism and to protect young people from drifting towards extremist ideologies through providing them with jobs and decent livelihood opportunities.” She added: “This collaboration will enable us to expand our work aimed at reducing unemployment and poverty. It will help us implement more of our skills development, employment and microfinance programs that have proven successful in economically empowering young people and young women economically, and engaging them in achieving economic and social stability for themselves and their communities.”

It is worth mentioning that this is the first MoU Mr. Vladimir Voronkov signs after his recent appointment as Under-Secretary-General United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office. This collaboration is a step forward in the efforts towards counter extremism through achieving the common goal and utilizing our different resources of the three parties to implement initiatives that further engage young people and provide them with job opportunities, which in turn protect youth from falling into the traps of violent extremism and terrorism and enable them to contribute to building peace and prosperity in their societies.

Captions from Silatech’s meetings during the week of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly

Meeting with Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Youth Envoy

Ms. Sabah Al Haidoos met with Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Youth Envoy to discuss future collaborations and enhance coordination and exchange of expertise with UN agencies and other organizations to promote youth empowerment programs.

Meeting with Dr. Jehangir Khan Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) & the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in the UN Secretariat

The meeting was held to discuss the main achievements of Silatech’s programs in the fight against extremism and violent extremism and ways to strengthen these programs to achieve a wider impact in areas affected by conflict.