As the United Nations nears the end of a 10-year review of its 2006 Counter-Terrorism Strategy and deliberations of its Platform for Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, input to the process submitted by the peacebuilding community expresses concern with the “cognitive dissonance” between states’ counterterror (CT), countering violent extremism (CVE) and development agenda. Charity & Security Network joined three other nonprofit organizations in a letter endorsing the peacebuilders’ input.

“For decades, government policies and actions in service of CT have often fueled the precise grievances that led individuals into groups that states now call ‘violent extremist’ organizations, the very groups that states are now allegedly trying to counter,” states the input, submitted by the Alliance for Peacebuilding June 20.

The endorsement letter echoes the peacebuilders’ recommendations that the updated UN CT strategy: not conflate terrorism and violent extremism; include monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; include explicit statements to protect human rights and respect international humanitarian law; and address the negative consequences of anti-terrorist financing measures, including bank derisking.