Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has urged all 193 UN member states to develop a national plan of action to prevent the spread of violent extremism, calling it "a scourge of our times".
Ban said in a report to the UN General Assembly circulated on Thursday that what is most alarming today is the rapid expansion of violent extremist ideologies in different parts of the world, which are being fuelled by the technological revolution.
He called for actions that are "as agile and far-reaching as the phenomenon itself".
Ban said national plans should focus on preventing conflict and promoting dialogue, investing in education and job creation and countering media messages that drive people to violent extremism among other things.
According to the report, violent extremists have recruited over 30,000 "foreign terrorist fighters" from over 100 countries to travel to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen.
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"Some of them will no doubt be horrified by what they see and anxious to put the experience behind them," Ban said, "but others have already returned to their home countries - and more will undoubtedly follow - to spread hatred, intolerance and violence in their own communities".
Over the past two decades, the secretary-general said, the international community has tried to address violent extremism primarily with counter-terrorism measures. But he said a more comprehensive approach is needed.
