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The UN Secretary-General will present his Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism (A/70/675) for the consideration of the General Assembly during an informal meeting of the General Assembly on 15 January 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters, the United Nations Office in Armenia said.

In recent years, terrorist groups such as ISIL, Al-Qaida and Boko Haram have shaped our image of violent extremism and the debate about how to address this threat. Their message of intolerance – religious, cultural, social – has had drastic consequences for many regions of the world. Holding territory and using social media for real-time communication of their atrocious crimes, they seek to challenge our shared values of peace, justice and human dignity.

In the Plan, the Secretary-General calls for a comprehensive approach encompassing not only essential security-based counter-terrorism measures but also systematic preventive steps to address the underlying conditions that drive individuals to radicalize and join violent extremist groups.

The Plan is an appeal for concerted action by the international community. It provides more than 70 recommendations to Member States and the United Nations System to prevent the further spread of violent extremism.

The Plan is accompanied by a Letter of the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly (A/70/674), where the Secretary-General puts forward an “All-of-UN” approach both at Headquarters and in the field to support national, regional and global efforts to prevent violent extremism and assist Member States in developing National Plans of Action.