Organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, a two-day train-the-trainer course focused on the role of parents in the prevention of terrorism concluded in Dushanbe yesterday. 

According to the OSCE office, the course was aimed at enhancing the capacity of 25 local civil society experts in the prevention of violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism (VERLT) by increasing their knowledge on how to build community resilience amongst the local population, establish relations of mutual confidence with government structures, and better engage parents in preventing violent extremism amongst youth.

The course, delivered by two international experts, was designed on the basis of the OSCE guidebook “Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Leads to Terrorism: A Community Policing Approach.”

“The OSCE recognizes civil society as being on the forefront of efforts to prevent VERLT – and always encourages state and non-state actors to work together closely in the prevention of this phenomenon,” said Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.  “The Office plans to strengthen the capacity of local civil society by introducing them to OSCE commitments and international standards in line with the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy and other relevant international legal documents.”

Maryam Davlatova, a gender expert participating in the course said: “Parents and educational institutions can play an important role in shielding youth against violent extremist ideologies.  Addressing gender based violence in the family is another key element in fostering the development of children as well as their resilience to violent extremist propaganda.”

The Office will invite some of the trainees for further cooperation, engaging them in a training series entitled “Parents against Terrorism”, which is planned for the upcoming months across the Khatlon and Sughd provinces of Tajikistan.

The training course was organized within the framework of the OSCE Office’s project on counter-terrorism and prevention of VERLT, which aims to provide capacity-building assistance to state and non-state actors of Tajikistan to effectively prevent VERLT.