19 February 2015

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Washington, D.C., today to address a summit hosted by the United States on international efforts to counter violent extremism.

The conference, announced by President Barack Obama in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris, comes just days after the murder of two people in an attack on a free speech discussion and on a synagogue in Copenhagen, and the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL).

The Secretary-General and the UN Security Council have strongly condemned these acts and called for international measures to tackle extremism, including its root causes, in line with international law and the UN Charter.

To that end, Mr. Ban is expected to meet with high-level delegates at today's Summit on Countering Violent Extremism to deliberate ways in which the international community can address the threat of violent extremism, including through a comprehensive multi-faceted approach.