In June 2023, Senior Research Fellow Susan Sim spoke at two ASEAN workshops on preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) in Bali, Indonesia. At the ASEAN-U.S. PCVE Workshop on Building Community Resilience, from June 6-7, 2023, she stressed the importance of putting in place contextually appropriate measures for the rehabilitation and reintegration (R&R) of returning foreign fighters and their families. These include developing effective screening mechanisms and training practitioners, psychologists and community organizations that may be implementing R&R programs to provide the dedicated support that children, especially, will need to help them cope with the trauma.
At the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Consultation on Victims-Oriented Protection to Prevent and Counter Radicalism and Violent Extremism in ASEAN, from June 9-10, 2023, she shared some good practices and lessons learned from Singapore’s experience in community engagement. She noted that while the Singapore model may not be transferrable to another country, three good principles are, including political will to take ownership of the problem and its solutions, clarity of goals, and fairness in implementation.