Side event: Prevention of Violent Extremism through the Implementation of Tajikistan’s National Strategy on Countering Terrorism and Extremism (2021-2025)

The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in collaboration with the Republic of Tajikistan held a Side event on Prevention of Violent Extremism through the Implementation of Tajikistan’s “National Strategy on Countering Terrorism and Extremism (2021-2025)”, in New York, on 12 February 2025.

Jointly organized to mark the International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) as and when Conducive to Terrorism, the event will focus on Tajikistan’s Strategy and National Action Plan on Countering Extremism and Terrorism for 2021-2025. The strategy emphasizes the importance of the comprehensive “whole-of-society” and “whole-of-government” approaches with achievable outcomes, in line with the UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action on Prevent Violent Extremism (PVE) and Action 23 of the Pact for Future.

The side event aims to present key achievements of the Republic of Tajikistan’s National Strategy on countering terrorism and extremism since 2021 and share good practices and lessons learned in the region. It will also discuss actionable recommendations to enhance PVE initiatives in Tajikistan and support resource mobilization efforts while contributing to the global dialogue on effective measures to prevent violent extremism conducive to terrorism.

Background

In recent years, Tajikistan has intensified its efforts to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism conducive to terrorism at the national, regional, and international levels, by addressing the drivers of violent extremism conducive to terrorism, as well as tackling drugs and arms trafficking and its nexus with terrorism financing in view of the country’s geographic location.

The high-level events held in Dushanbe (2018, 2019, 2022) under the “Dushanbe Process”and in Kuwait (2024) under its “Kuwait Phase” fostered deliberations that led to the adoption of the Dushanbe and Kuwait Declarations. These Declarations underscore the primary responsibility of Member States in preventing and countering terrorist acts and encourage international cooperation in accordance with relevant obligations under international law.

In November 2024, a High-level Conference of the Kuwait phase of the Dushanbe Process extended the scope and impact beyond Central Asia, strengthening implementation of the United Nations Global Counter–Terrorism Strategy. The conference brought together Member States from the League of Arab States, Central Asia, Africa and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Members of the United Nations Security Council, United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities, and representatives from academia, civil society, and the private sector, including youth, women and human rights actors.

National Strategy and Action Plan

In 2021, the “National Strategy and Action Plan of the Republic of Tajikistan on Countering Extremism and Terrorism for 2021-2025” was developed and adopted, with the technical expertise and support of the United Nations under the overall coordination of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre within the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNCCT-UNOCT) and the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan, as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Programme Office in Dushanbe.

In the development phase of the National Strategy and Action Plan of Tajikistan, UNOCT-UNCCT coordinated and consolidated the technical advice provided by the entities of the National and Regional Counter-Terrorism Strategies Working Group of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact.

The Strategy was officially presented in April 2022 at UN Headquarters in New York as part of the project “Towards the Implementation of the Joint Plan of Action for the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia” and under “Strengthening Resilience Against Violent Extremism in Asia (STRIVE Asia): A Joint EU-UN Initiative.”

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