It is with great interest that the ICPC participated at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) workshop to develop a set of tools to facilitate the implementation of their Guidelines on Crime and Violence prevention, held in Johannesburg on the 26 and 27 of November 2018. The guidelines themselves mark a bold recognition, by the Members States of the SADC, that crime and violence prevention is a transversal issue requiring the commitment of multiple stakeholders.

In this regard, ICPC is proud to have contributed to the development of these guidelines and to the creation of tools that will facilitate their implementation and would like to congratulate the SADC, the Southern Africa Regional Police Chief’s Cooperation Organisation (SARPCOO) and the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) for their leadership in the field of crime and violence prevention in the region.

Bratislava, Slovakia

On 25 and 26 March 2019, the ICPC was invited to share its projects and experiences during the annual OSCE-wide Counter-Terrorism Conference in Bratislava. The main purpose of this international meeting was to take stock of efforts to prevent and combat terrorism as well as violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism in the OSCE area.

During this conference, major aspects were discussed, such as :

–  Programmes and approaches that help identify, divert and support individuals at risk of radicalization to terrorist violence such as referral mechanisms and pre-criminal interventions

– Prison-based and non-custodial programmes to rehabilitate and reintegrate terrorist offenders while ensuring due prosecution of their criminal actions

– Advances in international co-operation in countering terrorism and the implementation of good practices in preventing VERLT in the OSCE area

As part of the week dedicated to the prevention of radicalization leading to violence, organized by the Department of Public Safety Canada, the ICPC participated, from March 21 to 23, 2019, in workshops and working meetings of the Canadian Practitioners’ Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism. The purpose of these workshops is to develop evidence-based guidelines to promote effective intervention in the field.

In order to enrich an international preliminary study on the evaluation of programs to prevent violent radicalization, the ICPC took the opportunity to organize, in parallel with the seminar, a discussion group to gather the views of actors in the field on programs’ evaluation.

The ICPC is now actively involved in sharing experiences and good practices as well as international cooperation on radicalization and violent extremism.