Dr. Kenneth Christie (PIA photo)
TAGUIG CITY, Jan. 30 (PIA) -- A Canadian academic and subject matter expert on preventing violent extremism (PVE) on Tuesday said engaging young people is key to preventing violent extremism in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.
During the Radicalization in the Southeast Asia Forum held at the University of the Philippines in Bonifacio Global City, Dr. Kenneth Christie of the Royal University in Victoria, British Columbia urged government officials and policymakers to ensure that the youth is involved as partners in developing and implementing policies, which effectively counter the growth of extremism.
“I think we must start at the bottom-up, we must start talking to young people, and make sure that they are socialized, and make sure that they feel part of the community,” Christie said.
“Knowing what young people need, let us give them what they yearn for – dignity and positive role models. This way we can halt and reverse the trend of violent extremist group,” he added.
Christie also called on government to “increase funding in youth in initiatives sector, especially within schools” as part of an effective PVE strategy and in order to engage and encourage more young people.
“Canada has got a fairly and far more approach to youth de-radicalization and may have a positive effect on youth. Last year, or since 2016, Canada has spent about 35-million dollars on de-radicalization and countering violent extremism. That’s quite a lot of money because they’ve estimated that in Canada, there’s probably a volume of really about 130 kind of dedicated radicals in that sense, and that’s still 130 too many as far as government is concerned, but that’s quite a lot of money,” he said.
As he called for more investment and systematic participation of the youth in decision-making and governance, Christie said other sectors also have more proactive roles in communities and their society at large.
“The role of religious leaders is very important of course. People do give a lot of respect for religious leaders,” he said.
“But I don’t think there’s just one thing that will eradicate radicalization. It has to be more than religious leaders, it has to be more than talking between religious leaders but that is an important step. We need to have the whole community involved, we need to have leaders, which could educate people, we need to have the government involved, we need to have the Catholic Church involved, we need to have Islamic leaders involved,” he added.
“Radicalization is highly complex, multi-faceted, I would also argue that the people being radicalized of course certainly don’t think of themselves as being radicalized. It just seems like a process for them, in which they have no other alternative,” Christie said.
“We have to build trust. We have to develop security and we have to look at it at the perspective of community security,” he added.
Presented by the ASEAN Society of the Philippines (ASP), in cooperation with the Embassy of Canada, the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy and the University of the Philippines, the forum is part of ASP’s lecture series program to raise awareness on ASEAN and issues affecting the region, according to its chairperson and Ambassador Delia Albert. (PIA NCR)
TAGUIG CITY, Jan. 30 (PIA) -- A Canadian academic and subject matter expert on preventing violent extremism (PVE) on Tuesday said engaging young people is key to preventing violent extremism in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.
During the Radicalization in the Southeast Asia Forum held at the University of the Philippines in Bonifacio Global City, Dr. Kenneth Christie of the Royal University in Victoria, British Columbia urged government officials and policymakers to ensure that the youth is involved as partners in developing and implementing policies, which effectively counter the growth of extremism.
“I think we must start at the bottom-up, we must start talking to young people, and make sure that they are socialized, and make sure that they feel part of the community,” Christie said.
“Knowing what young people need, let us give them what they yearn for – dignity and positive role models. This way we can halt and reverse the trend of violent extremist group,” he added.
Christie also called on government to “increase funding in youth in initiatives sector, especially within schools” as part of an effective PVE strategy and in order to engage and encourage more young people.
“Canada has got a fairly and far more approach to youth de-radicalization and may have a positive effect on youth. Last year, or since 2016, Canada has spent about 35-million dollars on de-radicalization and countering violent extremism. That’s quite a lot of money because they’ve estimated that in Canada, there’s probably a volume of really about 130 kind of dedicated radicals in that sense, and that’s still 130 too many as far as government is concerned, but that’s quite a lot of money,” he said.
As he called for more investment and systematic participation of the youth in decision-making and governance, Christie said other sectors also have more proactive roles in communities and their society at large.
“The role of religious leaders is very important of course. People do give a lot of respect for religious leaders,” he said.
“But I don’t think there’s just one thing that will eradicate radicalization. It has to be more than religious leaders, it has to be more than talking between religious leaders but that is an important step. We need to have the whole community involved, we need to have leaders, which could educate people, we need to have the government involved, we need to have the Catholic Church involved, we need to have Islamic leaders involved,” he added.
“Radicalization is highly complex, multi-faceted, I would also argue that the people being radicalized of course certainly don’t think of themselves as being radicalized. It just seems like a process for them, in which they have no other alternative,” Christie said.
“We have to build trust. We have to develop security and we have to look at it at the perspective of community security,” he added.
Presented by the ASEAN Society of the Philippines (ASP), in cooperation with the Embassy of Canada, the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy and the University of the Philippines, the forum is part of ASP’s lecture series program to raise awareness on ASEAN and issues affecting the region, according to its chairperson and Ambassador Delia Albert. (PIA NCR)
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