CAMP H.M. SMITH, HAWAII - Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) hosted their fifth annual Multilateral Counter Violent Extremism Working Group in Tamuning, Guam April 25-28.

Forty-one participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Maldives attended this year’s Multilateral Counter Violent Extremism Working Group (MCVE-WG). The annual working group provides a forum for regional partners to build relationships across regional security seams, hold discussions about radicalization, and develop collaborative solutions to counters and prevent violent extremism.

The working group featured a series of speakers from the security sector, international organizations, and academics.

The MCVE-WG approach to countering violent extremism (CVE) encourages a whole of society approach based on “the premise that well-informed and well-equipped families, communities, and local institutions represent the best defense against violent extremist ideologies,” according to the working group’s mission statement.

Participants focused their discussions around the following themes: role of critical thinking in CVE, coordinating and balancing CVE efforts across government and civil society, and leveraging social media. They agreed to work within their own communities to encourage information sharing and appeal to government agencies and community leaders to educate and empowering their audiences to build resilient communities, build trust between organizations and government.

The MCVE-WG was founded as an outcome of a Global Counter Terrorism Forum meeting in Manila, Philippines, when partners from the Indonesia, Philippines and the U.S. decided their shared concerns of violent extremism warranted a more comprehensive discussion. The attendees at the first MCVE-WG in 2013 were Indonesia, Philippines and the United States. The following year the invitation was extended to other countries in South East Asia and in 2016, the invitation included South Asian countries.

SOCPAC executes a range of multilateral engagement programs to support U.S. Pacific Command objectives of deterring aggression, responding quickly to crisis, enhancing regional cooperation, and defeating threats to the U.S. and its interests.

One such program, includes the U.S. government program to work with the governments of Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Thailand, and the Maldives to offer and pay rewards that enable the disruption of terrorist groups operating in those countries.

The largest multilateral engagement is the biennial Pacific Area Special Operations Conference (PASOC) in Honolulu, Hawaii. PASOC brings together security sector leaders from around the region to discuss challenges to regional security, share information and best practices to improve regional security, and build habitual, multilateral relationships across the region.

The relationships and information sharing continue throughout the year through a series of other events including Pacific Area Security Sector Working Groups and the Cooperation Against Transnational Threats Workshop.