Qatar, on Monday, took yet another great leap in its fight against terrorism worldwide by announcing the launch of the International Hub on Behavioural Insights to Counter Terrorism, which will be established as a UNOCT Programme Office in Doha.
The International Hub will leverage the expertise of local, regional and international counter-terrorism actors and enhance programming cooperation and coordination with the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact entities operating in the field for impactful and “all-of-UN” programme delivery on behavioural insights to counter terrorism. During the soft launch of the Hub, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said: “The commitment of Qatar to hosting the Hub stems from its policy that is based on the Islamic culture of rejecting violence in all forms regardless of the motives and reasons, in addition to its belief that counter-terrorism cannot be done without a comprehensive regional and international framework that deals with the root causes of terrorism.”
These words prove that Qatar categorically rejects violence and terrorism in any form and manifestation, whatever their motives and reasons. It is not only a conviction, but a belief also based on the noble Islamic culture which vociferously vouch for peace and harmony among everyone, irrespective of caste, creed or ethnicity.
The Hub will focus on children and youth given the fact that they serve as the fuel for extremist groups, something that requires focusing attention on that segment of society in all programmes to build societies immune to extremist ideas. The Hub will conduct comprehensive study on people’s behaviour, how humans think, decide and take action using different approaches such as cognitive psychology, behavioural economics and social sciences. The study is expected to give insights into how people become radicalised to violence and how we can intervene in the process to help them wean away from such acts.
Qatar’s efforts in bringing peace across the world has already won global acclaim. The country’s mediation efforts resulted in finding peaceful solutions to several conflicts in the region and beyond and such efforts are still continuing. Children, youth and women are the main focus of Qatar’s development agenda and the welfare, health and education of these groups are a priority for the state.
Qatar is well aware that education can bring a sea change to people’s behaviour and outlook, the way they look at the wider world and other societies. That is why Qatar always emphasises on education and spends millions on imparting knowledge in the state and several other countries which are lagging behind in this field.
