Italy to host conference on returning foreign fighters

Rome, May 8 (IANS/AKI) Italy is this week organising an international conference here aimed at fostering regional and international co-operation on foreign terrorist fighters returning to Europe, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The conference entitled 'The Reverse Flow of Foreign Terrorist Fighters: Challenges for the OSCE Area and Beyond' will take place on Thursday and Friday at the upscale Grand Hotel Parco dei Principi.

Government ministers and international security experts will attend the conference on good practices and on how to address current challenges and issues and forge effective policies to prevent the violent extremism and radicalisation that lead to terrorism (VERLT), according to OCSE's website.

The conference will also mull counter-terrorism "in full compliance with human rights", with a special focus on addressing new threats posed by returning/relocating FTFs and their affiliates, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said.

Boosting border security and information sharing and rehabilitation and reintegration programmes within and outside the criminal justice system are also on the conference agenda, according to OCSE.

Italy's Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Vincenzo Amendola, and the Director of OCSE's general secretariat, Paul Bekkers, will open the conference, the ministry said.

The ministry's Deputy Director-General for Political Affairs and Security, and OSCE's Coordinator for transnational threats, Rasa Ostrauskaite, will make the conference's concluding remarks, according to the ministry.

Italy is the current chairman of OSCE.

--IANS/AKI

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