Finally a Global Look into the Causes of Violent Extremism

The United Nations(UN) has opened a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, aimed to tackle violent extremism as part of the world body's leadership efforts to address the root causes of terrorism.

Dubbed as the first international conference to tackle violent extremism in the search for a "preventative agenda" and not just in response to terrorism, Jehangir Khan, a director of a UN counter-terrorism task force, admitted that violent extremism was threatening all major UN missions, the Associated Press(AP) reported. However, he warned: "There is no quick fix, there is no magic wand," the AP added.

The two-day Geneva conference is part of an effort by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to address the root causes of terrorism. Some 30-government envoys and ministries are represented at the conference including civil advocates, social media operatives and UN officials. The conference is aimed to get governments and communities on the same page to focus on the disillusioned and the unemployed or the disadvantaged youths, who become ready recruits for extremist groups.

While this Geneva conference represents a good initiative toward finding and addressing the causes of violent extremism, it will not be successful unless a thorough look is given to committed historical wrongs, events and acts of injustices minus vehicles to redress by the people.