UN, OSCE experts: Kazakhstan is world leader in repatriating its citizens from conflict zones in Middle East

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Ashikbayev took part in the Joint Regional High-level Conference on Foreign Terrorist Fighters – Addressing Current Challenges which was organized on February 11-12, 2020 in Vienna by the OSCE, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), Switzerland and Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship, the press service of the Kazakh MFA informs.

Taking the floor at the first session of the conference, Ashikbayev spoke about Kazakhstan’s efforts to counter the spread of terrorist ideology on the Internet, as well as support for counter-terrorism efforts within the OSCE.

Given the significant interest of the world community to the Jusan and Rusafa humanitarian operations which were carried out by Kazakhstan, the Deputy Minister as a keynote speaker at the side event on Rehabilitation and Reintegration of ISIS Family Members highlighted problems and challenges associated with the return of citizens starting from areas of terrorist activity and ranging from documentation of children to attracting best practices to work with returnees. Separately, the activities of the non-governmental sector in the field of resocialization were noted.

On the sidelines of the conference, Ashikbayev met with the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Executive Directorate of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Michèle Coninsx, with whom he discussed further practical steps for cooperation in the fight against terrorism, including specific technical projects and events to share good experiences and best practices.