Jakarta, 14 March 2019 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU) today launched an initiative to support Indonesia to prevent and respond to the growth of violent extremism in the region.

The “Preventing Violent Extremism Through Promoting Tolerance and Respect for Diversity” or PROTECT project will work on three main areas: Conducting research on the prevention of violent extremism (PVE) and radicalism in Indonesia and region; Policy engagement with the government to support National Action Plan (NAP) on PVE; and Youth Engagement to promote tolerance and respect for diversity.

The PROTECT project, financed by the EU and implemented by UNDP, will work in close partnership with the Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Cultural Affairs (Kemenko PMK), the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Kemenko Polhukam),  and the National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) as well as civil society groups.

“Indonesia and the EU are facing the same scourge of violent extremism, as well as the same challenges to understand better the drivers of radicalisation, in particular among our youth, and respond through policies that ally prevention, de-radicalisation and law enforcement in full respect of human rights. This project is part of the growing cooperation on security between Indonesia and the EU” said EU Ambassador Vincent Guérend.  

The PROTECT project will also collaborate with UNDP’s other project on violent extremism, CONVEY, which places more emphasis on promoting tolerance through religious education and youth empowerment.

“Violent Extremism threatens peace and prosperity. It can destroy communities and reverse development progress. As we have seen in recent years, South East Asia, including Indonesia, is not immune to that threat and this new project will, therefore, support the national response to counter the existing threat and prevent violent extremism in the country” said Christophe Bahuet, UNDP Resident Representative.

MEDIA CONTACT
UNDP Indonesia, PROTECT Project Manager, Iwan Misthohizzaman, misthohizzaman@undp.org
UNDP Indonesia Communication Specialist, Tomi Soetjipto, suryo.tomi@undp.org
EU Delegation to Indonesia, Press Officer, Tioria Silalahi, tioria.silalahi@eeas.europa.eu