The first meeting of the Advisory Group for the OIC Center for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding to debunk terrorist incitements was held on Thursday, 11 August 2016, at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) General Secretariat in Jeddah.

The meeting will consider and adopt a working paper that contains all essential elements for the working of the Center for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding.

The OIC Center for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding is being established at the General Secretariat, to work through internet and social media platforms to delegitimize and deconstruct extremist narratives through counter messaging over social media sites.

“Currently, cyber platforms are increasingly being used by terrorist groups to spread hate message and disseminate distorted and self-coined interpretation of the Holy Quran and Hadith; exploit socio-economic frustrations of the Muslim youth; recruit and train terrorists; spread terrorist ideology and incite people against their governments,” said Bashir Ansari, OIC Director of Dialogue and Outreach.

“Since legally and technically it is not always possible to censor all such activities on the internet, the only remedy to effectively counter this terrorist narrative is to use the same online communication and social media tools,” he added.

The OIC Center for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding will also prepare videos and animations exposing the reality of terrorist groups by juxtaposing true interpretations of Quran and Hadith against the misinterpretations disseminated by terrorist groups.

The Centre will work in collaboration with national counter terrorism centers in Member states, relevant OIC institutions and the UN outfits.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has long been at the forefront in the fight against terrorism and extremism, through a series of initiatives making it one of the top priorities on its agenda.

The OIC General Secretariat has therefore set up a core group of advisers to help it launch and sustain its Center for Dialogue, Peace and Understanding in a manner that is strategic, encompassing, sophisticated, persuasive and dynamic and the group was hold its inaugural meeting on Thursday 11 August 2016.