Minister of Defence and National Security Adam Shareef Umar stated that terrorism is a global phenomenon and that no country is immune from the threat. He made the statement while speaking at the opening session of the national workshop on countering violent extremism and terrorism.
Minister Shareef inaugurated the national workshop for the Government of Maldives on "Strengthening effective national policies and legal frameworks for preventing and countering violent extremism leading to terrorism through appropriate criminal justice approaches." The workshop is jointly conducted by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Terrorism Prevention Branch, with assistance from the government of Japan.
The Minister thanked the UNODC for the timely workshop, and for their continued support in building the capacity of the law enforcement agencies. He also thanked the government and the people of Japan for their generous assistance to the Maldives, not only in facilitating the workshop, but also in disaster mitigation, climate resilience and other developmental areas.
The workshop includes participants from key stakeholder government ministries, law enforcement agencies and higher education institutions of the Maldives and other relevant stakeholders involved in the national effort to counter terrorism and violent extremism, as well as experts and practitioners from United Kingdom, Singapore and the Netherlands. The government of Maldives has recognized the gravity of the threat and has enacted legislative, institutional and policy initiatives to better prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism.
Since its inception, the NCTC has leading the national effort, and has contributed immensely towards understanding the threat through intelligence and academic researches and studies. The workshop was conducted from 12-13 July 2017, at Hotel Jen, Male'.