Minister of Defense Radmila Sekerinska in a statement for CIVIL MEDIA talks about the participation of the Army and of the Ministry of Defense in the area of arms control and prevention of terrorism and extremism.
The conversation with Minister Sekerinska is part of the activities of CIVIL’s project “The Past, Present and Future of Arms Control in the Republic of North Macedonia” supported by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and Resilience Fund.
“Arms control, radicalization, violent extremism or terrorism, are processes that feed each other, and therefore, the fight against them should also be well-coordinated, has to be logical. The Ministry of Defense is not the first institutions that deals with this fight, but as part of the National Committee for Countering National Extremism and Fight Against Terrorism, we participate in the country’s efforts to deal with the danger that is becoming global and that is a standard topic at all meetings of ministers of defense, ministers of interior, and within the framework of NATO” – says Minister Sekerinska.
All NATO allies, including our country, the Republic of North Macedonia, have been called upon to participate in the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) in all of its aspects, which strives to improve the national legislation and control over illicit small and light weapons. In that sense, Minister of Defense Sekerinskatoo emphasized that terrorism is one of the key dangers that NATO defines as a major challenge in the area of security.
Radmila Sekerinska (photo: D. Muratov/CIVIL)
“Therefore, a large part of our army members are trained to fight against extremism and terrorism. They participate also in the preparation of standard operating procedures, together with other institutions. Part of our special units focus on training for countering terrorism. This means that the Army, together with the Service for Military Intelligence in the Defense, are the main elements that should provide us all the information and instruments on how to fight against these modern evils” – explained Sekerinska.
In terms of the policies for building the structure of the Defense, the manners and approach in the area of creating social cohesion, which is an important factor in building the resilience of a society towards extremism and terrorism, Minister Sekerinska says that the“Army is one of the institutions that has to be a symbol of integration, has to be a symbol of cohesion, because it is present in various places”
Radmila Sekerinska (photo: D. Muratov/CIVIL)
“Army members come from all villages and cities across the country. It is a very useful institution for creating that type of social cohesion. Equitable representation from the very start was first promoted among the army and police ranks. This is how chances for radicalization are reduced inside the structures, this is how influence is made on reducing hate speech, this is also how work is done on breaking stereotypes” – says Sekerinska.
Such an approach has strong influence on building the security system, on the opportunities for the country to defend itself from the modern evil of extremism and terrorism.
“A state like North Macedonia that is truly characterized by its ethnic, linguistic, religious differences, must work much more on its internal integration, in order to deal with the evil called violent extremism or terrorism. I think that we realized this both in the army and security structures and we deal with it very seriously” – concluded Minister of Defense Radmila Sekerinska.
Xhabir Deralla
Camera and photography: Dehran Muratov
Editing: Arian Mehmeti
Transcript: Diana Tahiri
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
