From: Communications | AWEPA
For Immediate Release
Peace, Security and Sustainable Development:
AWEPA Parliamentary Seminar addresses violent extremism and terrorism
Brussels, Belgium – Peaceful societies are a vital requirement for sustainable development. The Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) will hold an International Parliamentary Seminar on “Peace, Security and Sustainable Development”, with a special focus on addressing the root causes and consequences of violent extremism and terrorism. The seminar will be hosted by the Belgian Senate in Brussels on 8-9 October 2015.
This theme was chosen in light of growing international attention to the importance of peace and security in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Over the past decade, fragile and conflict-affected states have underperformed on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As we now transition towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), parliamentarians have a key role to play in developing policy and legal frameworks that address violent extremism and terrorism, their complex root causes and their multiple consequences.
While the nexus between peace, security and sustainable development has been broadly recognised, there has only recently been an acceptance that combating terrorism is an important component of the peace and security agenda, and thus intimately connected to the development agenda.
The International Parliamentary Seminar will aim to raise awareness among African and European MPs of the interconnection between security and sustainable development, as well as the latest parliamentary initiatives and strategies on violent extremism and terrorism.
African MPs from national parliaments and regional parliamentary bodies, MPs from several European parliaments and the European Parliament, African parliamentary staff and academics will come together to debate and reflect on how national, regional and continental parliaments in Africa and Europe can strengthen their role in achieving lasting peace and security.
Key speakers include AWEPA’s President and Minister of State Ms. Miet Smet, H.E. Macharia Kamau, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, Hon. Ike Ekweremadu, Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mr. Yves Leterme, former Prime Minister of Belgium, Hon. Santiago Nsobeya Efuman Nchama, Speaker of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) Parliament, Mr. Gilles de Kerchove, European Union Counter-Terrorism Coordinator and H.E. Ambassador Francisco Madeira, African Union Special Representative for Counter-terrorism Cooperation, among others.
About AWEPA
AWEPA works in cooperation with African Parliaments to strengthen parliamentary democracy in Africa, to keep Africa high on the political agenda in Europe and to facilitate African-European Parliamentary dialogue. AWEPA’s President and Minister of State Ms. Miet Smet will open the International Parliamentary Seminar on 8 October 2015.
Where: Belgian Senate
7 rue de Louvain, 1000 Brussel, Belgium
When: 8-9 October 2015
Thursday 8th October, from 8.30 – 18.00 hours
Friday 9th October, from 9.00-12.30 hours
Contact: Anastasia-Areti Gavrili
Communications Officer, a.gavrili@awepa.org
More information:
http://www.awepa.org/news/peace-security-sustainable-development-awepa-international-parliamentary-seminar-belgian-senate/