I wish to thank the Swiss Federation for hosting us, and commend the Secretary General for the Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism.

All around the world refugees and migrants are among those most directly affected by conflict coupled with violent extremism. The Plan of Action calls our attention to the 60 million whom conflict and violence have been displaced.

And beyond the displaced, there are many others who have moved or are on the move – all vulnerable to extremism, xenophobia or discrimination.

IOM is active, in partnership with many of you, in over 30 programmes which are investing some USD 30 million in prevention efforts globally, working to ensure that migrants are not marginalized and that vulnerabilities are neither exacerbated nor exploited. Informed by this work, I would like to point to three strategies that can help us to address conditions conducive to violent extremism:

1. In order to prevent violent extremism, Migration and terrorism must be de-linked in the public mind and public discourse.

The SG’s Plan outlines elements that contribute to the development of violent extremism and recruitment.

These same elements drive forced displacement. Unfortunately, migration is pointed to increasingly, as the cause of terrorism; this is a sort of cruel irony

whereas, in actual fact, forced migrants are frequently fleeing violent extremism.

We must address a growing anti-migrant sentiment and narrative. We must work to ensure that community perceptions, media coverage and political discourse on migration are more objective, balanced and historically accurate. Migration is not a problem to be solved. It is a human reality to be managed.

2. To prevent violent extremism, migration must be managed more responsibly and humanely.

Our approach to governance of migration can significantly reduce violent extremism. Our priorities for managing migration in this respect continue to be:

• First, saving lives, providing protection and upholding rights.
• Second, promoting access to more legal avenues of migration, to reduce the hold of smugglers particularly on those who are desperate to move, and to eliminate the allure of traffickers.
• Third, addressing more concertedly the root causes of irregular migration.

3. To prevent violent extremism,  diversity must be managed better. 

Migration is at an historic high with 1 in 7 persons on the move worldwide.  The drivers of large-scale migration – demography, disasters, socio-economic desperation – ensure that all our societies will inexorably become more diverse, more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious.

A key to managing diversity effectively is to strengthen the integration of migrants with the host societies – through jobs, language learning and community programs to welcome new arrivals. This helps prevent “home-grown” violent extremists.

To ensure harmonious multicultural, pluralistic societies we need to welcome migrants for the benefits they bring, and to provide concerted, long-term support to integrating migrants in receiving and hosting communities.