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EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION With the financial support from the Prevention of and “Fight against Crime Programme” of the European Union, European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs 2012 – 2013.
EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
Table of contents
Editorial ......................................... 3
1. Needs and Objectives ......................................... 4
2. Acquisition of the Participants ......................................... 6
3. Problems and Reorientation ......................................... 8
4. Members Profiles ......................................... 9
5. Similarities and Differences ...................................... 21
6. Establishing the Network ...................................... 25
7. Future Prospects ...................................... 27
Imprint ...................................... 28
With the financial support from the Prevention of and “Fight against Crime Programme” of the
European Union, European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs.
This publication reflects the views of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The European Network of Deradicalisation was co-financed byFINAL REPORT
Editorial
3
European experts on extremism prevention It has taken four years until the idea led to a
and deradicalisation gathered in October project and finally to establishing a European
2010 in London. They met at the concluding Network of Deradicalisation. We have now
conference of an international project to reached the point that we have created a net-
analyse different deradicalisation approaches work supported by the power of 26 organi-
undertaken jointly by the London Probation sations in 14 countries which stands for joint
Trust and the Violence Prevention Network objectives and generally applicable standards
e.V. The participants included numerous and which can attract an audience at both na-
members of quite varied non-governmental tional and international levels. I should like to
organisations, which work on the front line sincerely thank all the members of the Euro-
and have a rich store of experience and back- pean Network of Deradicalisation for the fact
ground knowledge with and about the target that we have achieved this in the last two
groups of ‘extremists/terrorists’. years. And on the same note, I look forward
to further cooperation and to the extension
As I was sitting on the plane back from Lon- of our circle.
don and reflecting again on the impressive,
moving and sometimes breath-taking stories Judy Korn
of conference participants, it became clear to December 2013
me that all these people who do such valu-
able work in their organisations need a com-
mon voice. A network that brings their
experiences together and passes them on to
others who are also engaged in the effort
against extremism and for deradicalisation in
Europe. Because even during the conference,
it became clear to everyone that this topic is
too large for each nation to be able to handle
it alone.EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
4 1. Needs and Objectives
Hate crimes, radicalisation and extremists’ re- when it comes to the complex issue of pre-
cruitment leading towards terrorism have in- venting hate crime. Also the cooperation with
creased in numbers and severity throughout colleagues from other European countries
Europe and will continue to pose a major made it clear how much deradicalisation in its
challenge for the future democratic societies. various aspects – offenders, vulnerable per-
Community and grass-root organisations, as sons, ex-radicals, victims – relies on independ-
well as social entrepreneurs such as non-profit ent and experienced practitioners who have
NGOs can play a major role in preventing po- direct access and profound influence. Jihadist
larisation and violence and intervening into motivated adolescents need Muslim commu-
emerging conflicts. Likewise, the Stockholm nity representatives they respect and trust;
Programme emphasises: “Key to our success young Swedish White Power radicals or Ger-
will be the degree to which non-governmen- man Neo-Nazis need highly experienced
tal groups … across Europe play an active practitioners – also ex-offenders/-radicals –
part”. who are independent from ‘state structures’;
Unlike government employees, NGO-practi- the victims need acknowledgement by re-
tioners find it easier to access even the most spected community representatives as well;
vulnerable environments and penetrate the and the community needs all these voices to
culture and language of (ex-)offenders, their be heard and integrated.
followers and victims alike. It is also easier for The added value of a European local-to-local
NGO-practitioners to build relationships network of those practitioners experienced
based on respect and “mutual trust” which are in deradicalisation lies in its potential of pro-
indispensable for successful involvement in de- viding international exchange, professional as-
radicalisation work. However, to fulfil their sistance, academic research and political
tasks NGO-practitioners do need: (1) profes- lobbying across borders and national political
sionalisation, (2) adherence to quality stan- habits. Becoming able to see the diversity –
dards and control, (3) methodological and similarities – across different European
transparency, (4) academic and consultancy hate crime contexts and the selection of in-
support, (5) (inter) national exchange of good tervention methods, is in itself a factor in
practice, (6) a more stable relationship with strengthening resilience against extremism
governmental bodies, so that their knowledge, and fundamentalism. Therefore, achieving an
skills and services can be systematically main- even wider geographical spread is a target for
tained, further developed and mainstreamed the future.
into ongoing work. And they need a stable
and sustainable financial basis, of course. u Objectives
One clear priority of the “Prevention of and
u The European Perspective fight against crime programme – ISEC” is: “ex-
Throughout several EU projects it has be- amining radicalisation leading to terrorism”
come quite obvious how indispensible com- and thereby “addressing the motivations of
munity NGOs and social entrepreneurs are, terrorists”, the “increased vulnerability ofFINAL REPORT
5
some places”, as well as “strengthening civil A medium term impact is that quality stan-
society’s engagement to address the phenom- dards and methodological issues become
enon more effectively at the grass-roots more transparent. They facilitate quality man-
level”. The project to set up a European Net- agement for a process of maintaining, devel-
work of Deradicalisation does meet these tar- oping and mainstreaming the NGOs’
get criteria, because it handles the issues of knowledge and skills, whilst statutory bodies
how we can better include the “grass-roots remain included in the process.
level”, work successfully on the “motivation” Thus, a long term impact is that the quality
of vulnerable individuals and “places” alike, and and cost-effectiveness of European deradical-
“strengthen civil society”. isation work will increase – and simultaneous
The European Network of Deradicalisation EC initiatives of European capacity building in
aims at developing a European network and deradicalisation may gain momentum.
platform of NGO-practitioners engaged in di-
rect face-to-face work (not only informa-
tional) in deradicalisation and prevention of
hate crimes. It is about: where these NGOs
are, who they work with (offenders/vulnera-
ble individuals, victims), how they method-
ologically work in intervention and
prevention, what qualification and quality stan-
dards exist, how success can be measured and
good practice identified, what – if any – pro-
fessional and/or academic assistance and eval-
uation they have, whether they engage in
(inter)national exchange, what further quality
development is envisaged/possible, what kind
of public standing, governmental acknowl-
edgement and institutional security they have,
what their challenges and (perceived) needs
are, and to what extent their knowledge and
skills can be maintained and mainstreamed.
u Impact
A short term impact is that rather insular
NGOs contact and communicate with other
initiatives in the field on a national and Euro-
pean level; they also begin to establish rela-
tionships with academic researchers and
statutory agents.EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
6 2. Acquisition of the Participants
The members interested in the European further members by word of mouth. In some
Network of Deradicalisation were searched countries, citizens‘ initiatives also played an im-
for and first approached across different chan- portant part, since these often filled a role as
nels. An initial attempt was to contact NGOs precursors or replacements for active civil so-
and frontline groups through public state in- ciety structures in the form of NGOs.
stitutions.These were, for instance, embassies, At the second stage, the NGOs, initiatives,
ministries and the police. Universities and sci- institutions and frontliners were identified
entific institutions were also approached. In which seemed likely to fit into the ’deradical-
addition, it was very helpful to contact the ex- isation’ profile and these were approached by
isting networks which were then able to es- email. The concept to establish a European
tablish other contacts. Web searches with key Network of Deradicalisation was described
words such as ’hate crime’ and ’deradicalisa- through a project presentation and personal
tion’ also proved successful. However, most telephone calls. If the potential members
contacts were made personally at confer- showed interest, personal meetings at confer-
ences and other events focused on the theme ences or at the location of the NGOs were
of ’deradicalisation’. Some of the current arranged. During the personal meetings, a
members of the European Network of De- standardised in-depth interview was then car-
radicalisation were already partners of the Vi- ried out on the basis of the following ques-
olence Prevention Network. They recruited tionnaire:
1. Name of your organisation – 2. c) Firstline deradicalisation work: 4. a) Your clients:
website if available u Firstline deradicalisation and Anti Hate u Who are the clients of your work?
Crime work with at-risk young people – Which client groups does your organisa-
2. a)Your NGO/your organisation: do you already do this? If not, do you tion/NGO typically work with?
u What is the history of your NGO/ intend to do this at some future point u Which kinds of radicalisation, (violent)
organisation of first-line deradicalisation within your work context? Where extremism do they reflect?
(or similar) work? exactly in your organisation/NGO would u Are there any kinds of extremism that
u How did it come into existence? you attempt to do this? you have realised but don’t work with
u What is moving the NGO and how (yet)? Why is that?
come it survives? 3. The firstline practitioners:
u What are the motivations and profes- 4. b) Issues and victim groups:
2. b) Your objectives: sional backgrounds of the practitioners in u What kinds of group-related hatred and
u What are the objectives of your your organisation? exclusion can be found in your area –
organisation/work? u Where does their personal inspiration and country – of work?
u What do your practitioners aim for in come from? Why do they usually persist
their firstline interventions with their and continue their work even under 4. c) Your clients’ behaviours, believes,
target group? difficult circumstances? and personality:
u What are the behaviour patterns, be-FINAL REPORT
47
lieves, personality traits, and typical life 5. b) Case stories (optional) 6. b) Public, media, and quality
histories of the clients? Case story about … management:
u Hence, who is – or should – be regard as u a client and her/his way through your in- u What are the issues of public perception,
a “radicalised or violent extremist per- tervention work stakeholders, media coverage (e.g. TV),
son” in your country? u the success and/or failure of firstline de- and party-political rhetoric?
radicalisation work as you know it from u Do you receive professional help and
5. a) Your methods: your work or other colleagues’ work assistance?
u What is your approach? u What stories of success/failure are typical u Are there procedures of quality manage-
u What particular methods/tools do you in your field and country? ment/evaluation in place?
work with in your organisation/NGO? u Do you interact with research, academia/
u What principles and guidelines would 6. a) Local and national work context: university in your country?
you say apply to your approach of first- u Which forms of employment exist in
line deradicalisation work – or to your your organization? How many persons 7. Your main messages to Brussels/the EU
social work in general? are employed to what extent? u Other than needing more finances, how
u What do you think are the key impact u What are the general work conditions may your work – and good-quality of
factors of your approach? of your organisation/NGO? your work – be supported and strength-
u How do you recognize success or failure u What issues of financing, government ened?
at early stage? Which criteria do you support are there? u What are your main messages to Brus-
apply in judging your own work? Which sels and to EU policy-making on ‘deradi-
are the typical successes and failures that calisation’ practice in your country?
happen in applying these methods?
The questionnaire initially included many fur- basis/position of NGOs in the different coun-
ther points. It became rapidly clear, however, tries of the European Union? 2. How are or-
that the time required for the participating ganisational structures created? Is there a
NGOs had to be kept within a reasonable functioning civil society structure at all? Is
limit. The scope was therefore concentrated there a well-developed NGO landscape, or
on the key points of target group(s) and are topics such as racism, anti-Semitism or de-
strategies for approaching them, methods and radicalisation rather dealt with through citi-
settings, activities and work context. The pri- zens’ initiatives? 3. Is the work carried out by
mary goal of the questionnaire was to work firstline groups, or are other methods used? 4.
out the differences and similarities between Is deradicalisation work performed by using
the countries and NGOs with respect to former members/defectors from the extrem-
these points, in order later to be able to pre- ist circles, or is the work done more by public
pare a comparison (see the chapter “Similar- security officers or other institutional staff? A
ities and Differences” for this). total of 180 contacts in 22 member states of
With reference to this, the following points the European Union were approached.
were of interest: 1. What is the startingEUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
8 3. Problems and Reorientation
During the development of the European The project was not only aimed at NGOs, but
Network of Deradicalisation, unexpected also at firstline practitioners working within
complications occurred which made it neces- other structures, since these – often working
sary to change direction. individually as firstliners – could also make an
First, it proved far more difficult than ex- invaluable contribution to the network. The
pected to identify NGOs corresponding to consequence was that state authorities could
the ’deradicalisation’ profile in some countries. unfortunately ban some individual firstliners
The reason for this was partly that the civil from taking part in the European Network of
society structures are not equally developed Deradicalisation.
in all countries. The NGOs in the member A further challenge was the extent of the
states are at a very different level with respect information requested from the NGOs and
to effective cooperation with the relevant of- its processing. The information provided
ficial state bodies and therefore, partly oper- through the questionnaires was often insuffi-
ate at a very local level, making an internet cient for the profile and had to be supple-
search practically impossible. Identifying the mented by verbal information and web pages.
relevant channels to these small NGOs and This was always done in agreement with the
initiatives was very time-consuming. This also members.The initially far more complex ques-
led to a delayed launch of the website. More- tionnaires needed to be substantially abbrevi-
over, in many countries ‘deradicalisation’ and ated and focused on important points, since
’hate crime’ are not on the political agenda or the NGOs did not have sufficient resources
are differently defined. For example in Greece, to complete them. In particular, the personnel
France, Spain and Eastern Europe the concern structure and time resources of smaller initia-
about ’hate crime’ is often only found to a lim- tives required consideration. Contrariwise,
ited extent at the level of initiatives or just on some profiles were much too long and
the basis of social commitment. Here in par- needed to be shortened for the website.
ticular, communication with wider networks
was needed which could create more con-
tacts by word of mouth for the European
Network of Deradicalisation. A good example
of this is France, although it is a large country,
it has got only one member in the European
Network of Deradicalisation. Insofar as the
concept had not yet been introduced in the
political debate in these countries, partners
needed first to be found which would con-
sider working in the ‘deradicalisation’ field in
the future, possibly also in cooperation with
universities.FINAL REPORT
4. Members Profiles 9
The complete profiles of all members of the u Back on Track – Ministry of Social
European Network of Deradicalisation can Affairs and Integration / Department of the
also be found at www.endo.eu. The profiles Prison and Probation Service, Denmark
are presented in alphabetical order below: Back on Track (BOT) has been designed to
target the growing number of inmates in Dan-
u Active Change Foundation, the United ish prisons that are sentenced for terrorism
Kingdom offenses and pose a threat of fuelling in-prison
The Active Change Foundation (ACF) is an radicalisation and recruitment. BOT is the sec-
NGO that has been set up to deal with seri- ond EU-financed project by the Danish Min-
ous violence such as gangs, violent extremism istry of Social Affairs and Integration in
and hate crime. The objective of the organi- cooperation with the Department of Prison
sation is to produce and further develop in- and Probation Service. BOT is designed as a
tervention tools and trainings that help to personal mentoring scheme and follows the
create a better, safer and stronger society by Danish tradition of local inter-agency cooper-
both strengthening community resilience and ation between schools, police, municipalities
directly intervening with targeted individuals. and social services.
In the area of prevention ACF works on the BOT’s main activity is the training and
promotion of religious and societal harmony coaching of mentors who then work with
for the public benefit by facilitating knowledge their clients – inmates who have committed
and mutual understanding between ethnic offenses out of extremist or terrorist motiva-
groups and persons of different faiths. Partic- tion. However, BOT defines extremism in a
ularly, ACF promotes a greater inclusion of broad sense, including all sorts of – rightwing,
young people in activities of preventing violent left, religious or other – violent extremism and
and hateful crime as well as a more trustful most importantly referring explicitly to hate
rapport between young people and other crime. Moreover, following a preventive social
members of the community, including statu- work perspective, BOT also targets prisoners
tory bodies. who are not sentenced for extremist offenses,
As far as methodology is concerned, ACF but are deemed vulnerable to radicalisation.
practitioners have developed a varied and In methodological terms, BOT strengthens
flexible set of sophisticated strategies in the their mentees’ skills in dialogue techniques,
area of intervention to engage in one-to-one coping strategies for every-day life and conflict
interaction with difficult to access individuals management. The tailor-made mentorships
that are considered high-risk.To this end, tailor are designed to accommodate the client’s
made action plans are developed. As a result, personal situation, assets, risks and social back-
ACF engages their clients in a process of chal- ground.
lenging, readjusting and broadening their
world-view and developing protective factors
to insulate them from being recruited.EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
10
u Centre for European and North Atlantic u Co-operation Ireland, the Republic of
Affairs, Slovakia Ireland
The Centre for European and North Atlantic Co-operation Ireland (CoIre) is an NGO that
Affairs (CENAA) is an NGO and think tank works to sustain peace on the island of Ire-
in the field of security policy that provides re- land by helping to build a shared and cohesive
search and training programmes for represen- society, addressing conflict risks and aiming to
tatives of civil society, young professionals, prevent vulnerable young people from engag-
policy makers and governmental employees. ing in sectarian hate crime and
CENAA focuses on external security issues extremist/paramilitary activities.
(e.g. NATO, terrorism, European security and CoIre’s Youth Leadership Programme fo-
defence policy etc.) and also to an increased cuses on marginalised urban and rural com-
extent on new security threats in terms of in- munities across Northern Ireland. The
ternal security. programme employs a combination of de-
Since the main internal security issue in the tached and centre-based work and follows
country and neighbouring regions are ex- established youth work models (such as
treme rightwing/neo-Nazi groups and since Brendtro’s Circle of Courage and Huskin’s
the societal mainstreaming of such extremism progression model).These approaches aim to
seems imminent, CENAA is about to develop develop key life and social skills, create positive
awareness raising and prevent agendas and it pathways to further education and employ-
seeks to establish close cooperation with local ment, and facilitate participants to positively
grass-roots organisations. re-engage in and contribute to local commu-
A particularly promising aspect of these nity life.
activities might be that CENAA is an interna- The Youth Leadership Programme is deliv-
tional research organisation based in the ered by professional youth workers, with sup-
country’s capital and that it is now starting to port from peer mentors and facilitators
interact with local practitioners in rural areas trained in community development and con-
on specific questions of methodology, ap- flict resolution work. Currently CoIre is look-
proach and strategy. ing to develop the programme further by
Presently, CENAA is starting its first re- strengthening their evaluation approaches, in-
gional participatory project in local monitor- cluding through engagement with academic
ing, awareness and prevention work in a expertise, and exploring replication of their
region that is highly affected by rightwing ex- model in different community settings.
tremism and ethnic friction, working with
communities, schools, municipal staff and po- u Cultures Interactive e.V., Germany
lice forces. Cultures Interactive (CI) is an NGO that
works both in prevention and firstline derad-
icalisation with at-risk young people that are
susceptible to violent rightwing extremism or
ethno-nationalism/religious fundamentalism –FINAL REPORT
11
as well as to xenophobic, racist and other of hard to reach and at-risk young people.
forms of hateful and exclusionary behaviour. These adolescents tend to display hostility to-
CI works in both inner-city and rural areas, wards minorities, Roma, immigrants, LGBT
mostly in community, youth club, and school (lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual) communities,
settings, in individual instances also in youth old or disabled people and lean towards a
prisons.There CI applies the ‘Fair Skills’ derad- rightwing extremist stance. Such at-risk target
icalisation approach, which combines youth- groups need to be fully incorporated into a
cultural workshops with civic education and socially informed life-long learning perspective.
deradicalisation interventions, anti-bias and EP practitioners work at schools, youth in-
democracy pedagogy and prevocational train- stitutions, as well as within communities and
ing modules; furthermore, it includes the ele- also provide awareness-raising with regard to
ments of psychologically based open-process hostile sentiments present among the general
and self-awareness group-work. public. By means of its consultancy and train-
Since the time of its federal model project ing EP provides expert knowledge and capac-
‘Culture Areas’ (Kulturräume) in 2008, CI has ity building in the prevention of violent
continued to develop cross-sectorial ‘Regional extremism and hate crime. As far as method-
Development’ approaches. In this area of ology is concerned, settings of in-depth prac-
work CI promotes human rights and radical- tice exchange and experience sharing in
isation awareness in the regions/districts that multi-agency workshops are applied.
find themselves strongly affected by extrem- A particularly promising aspect of EP’s ap-
ism and hate crime, especially in ex-GDR, proach might be that it attempts to also work
rural and small town areas. Bottom-up youth with latently extremist and anti-liberal senti-
group interviewing, assessments of the young ments within the mainstream population; thus
people’s socio-cultural neighbourhoods, train- it promotes an adequate societal and educa-
ing firstline youth-workers in sensitive areas tional perspective for the implementation of
as well as open space and community confer- the more targeted interventions with at-risk
encing are employed.The acquired knowledge young people.
is then brought into multi-agency roundtables
of community stakeholders from schools, so- u EUISA (European Union of Independent
cial/youth work, police and local government. Students and Academics), Austria/Germany
EUISA is an umbrella organisation for the fol-
u ERUDITIO PUBLICA o.p.s., the Czech lowing independent organisations in Austria
Republic and Germany:TSÖ (Turkish Student’s Union),
Eruditio Publica (EP) is an NGO that is in the ÖSSU (Austrian Student’s Union), ÄÖJ (Egyp-
process of developing prevention approaches tian-Austrian Youth), MJCN (Muslim Jewish
towards radicalisation and hate crime. EP is Conference National), GMJFF (Global Muslim
presently beginning to work with practitioners Jewish Friendship Forum), (RAMSA, Council
in youth work, schools and local authorities, of Muslim Students and Academics) and MKZ
who are in close contact with various groups (Muslim Competence Centre).The organisa-EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
12
tion has been created by associating similar in- strategies of empowerment/coping, resilience,
dependent organisations, with the same goals reflexion, biography work, family counselling,
and activities based on mutual understanding, conflict transformation and mediation. As sec-
intercultural and interreligious dialogue, Mus- ondary measures, the strategies of enhancing
lim Jewish dialogue and social cohesion, pre- critical thinking and responsibility of choice are
vention and deradicalisation. applied that may be compared to civic edu-
EUISA’s practitioners conduct prevention cation strategies in other countries. The EXIT
and deradicalisation work at schools, youth methodology follows the principles of social
clubs, in churches, mosques and within the and psychotherapeutic interaction, such as
community on a voluntary basis. They come building up empathy, trust and work-relation-
from a variety of professional backgrounds ship, confidentiality, clear contract, commit-
and most of them invest their free time in ment to non-manipulative procedures and
order to conduct various projects. The proj- quality management.
ects are aimed at for example creating social
cohesion and mutual understanding, encour- u Foresee Research Group Nonprofit
aging empathy among perpetrators and vic- Ltd., Hungary
tims as well as stimulating awareness of Foresee Research Group (FORESEE) is an
anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia. NGO that deals with consultancy, prevention,
intervention and network building in the field
u EXIT S.C.S. Onlus, Italy of constructive conflict solution, restorative
EXIT S.C.S. Onlus (EXIT) is a cooperative so- justice and prevention of social polarisation
cial enterprise which provides specialized so- and exclusion. Within this context, FORESEE
cial services in preventing and intervening has begun to tackle the phenomena of social
with violence and psychological abuse across hatred and extremism, as expressed by acting
different sectors of society, such as harass- and speaking against minorities, Roma, Jews,
ment/bullying at the workplace and school, immigrants, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi- and trans-
domestic abuse, maltreatment in groups, es- sexual) communities, as well as the homeless,
pecially due to religious cults and in manipu- elderly, disabled or otherwise marginalised
lative groups, but also in families and clans. people.
EXIT facilitators come from counseling, edu- FORESEE’s multi-agency team of re-
cation, law, mediation, and psychotherapy searchers and facilitators works with disad-
backgrounds. Throughout their work they vantaged groups, local communities, schools,
have observed that abuse in religious and psy- NGOs, as well as with practitioners and policy
chological cult groups often coincide with is- makers in the areas of criminal justice (victims,
sues of xenophobia, group-oriented hatred, offenders, persons on probation and in
racism, extremism, and hate crime. prison), social welfare and education. With re-
As they promote distancing and disen- gard to methods, FORESEE flexibly applies a
gagement processes, EXIT practitioners use range of techniques, such as mediation, con-
intensive one-to-one settings that employ ferencing, peacemaking circles, family groupFINAL REPORT
13
conferencing, facilitated discussions and one- street work in at-risk neighbourhoods of
to-one restorative dialogues. A particularly Berlin. It combines prevention and firstline
promising aspect of FORESEE’s approach is anti-violence, anti-hate crime and exit inter-
that it is safely anchored in the well estab- ventions with young people that are suscep-
lished restorative justice methodology and tible to gang-conflict, ethno-nationalist, as well
that it adapts and further develops this as rightwing extremist violence.
methodology into prevention work against GW’s staff members generally have a li-
hate crime and extremism. cence to act independently from statutory
agencies and thus, they may guarantee confi-
u Fryshuset, Passus, Sweden dentiality. GW practitioners use various set-
Fryshuset (FH), which means “cold store” in tings of open group, individual, focussed
Swedish was founded in 1984. Formally FH training and project work, which include me-
was a foundation headed by the YMCA of diated get-togethers of members from adver-
Stockholm. FH’s Passus project was started sary groups, as well as community organising
in 2010. It provides hands-on support for per- approaches. Diversity trainings, the ‘World of
sons wanting to leave criminal gangs or net- Difference’ approach and the middle-term
works by cooperating with various housing ‘Anti-Violence-and-Key-Competency Training’
corporations, the police, social services, the (AKT®) are applied. A particularly promising
legal system and also with the client’s own aspect of GW’s approach might be the way it
family and friends. combines city-wide detached street-work
The aim of Passus is to offer firstline inter- with both inter-agency activities in the com-
vention and support for those young people munity and more intensive and targeted in-
and their educators, parents and related pro- terventions with young people.
fessionals. One key-element in the work of Presently, GW intends to develop a Street
Passus is the use of “bridge-builders” or “key- College pilot project that facilitates a non-di-
personalities”, who have own experiences of rective, peer implemented programme of tai-
criminal gangs or networks. lor-made activities, combining capacity building
Another key-element is the application of and anti-bias and anti-violence training in the
a method called MRP (Motivation, Relation streets.
and Passion) for dealing with the needs and
new identities of the clients. A promising as- u Glencree Centre for Peace and
pect of Passus is its adoption of firstliners with Reconciliation, the Republic of Ireland
biographical experiences from criminal gangs Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation
or networks. (Glencree) is an NGO that works in conflict
transformation and violence prevention with
u Gangway – Straßensozialarbeit in Berlin adults and young people who may be at risk
(Social Streetwork in Berlin), Germany of adopting a sectarian worldview, engaging in
Gangway – Straßensozialarbeit in Berlin paramilitary organisations or else in develop-
(GW) is an NGO that provides detached ing racist behaviours (or have previously man-EUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
14
ifested such). Glencree also works with vic- with outdoor violence offenders. To this end,
tims/survivors of paramilitary violence in the five employees working for the Aggredi
order to help them to come to terms with programme have created and developed a
their loss and suffering and in order to avert system for bringing hard-to-reach and poorly
inter-generational revivals of conflict and vio- motivated clients into the area covered by in-
lence. teractive support services and therapeutic
Glencree tries to engage with people from working methods. To an outsider, the sessions
marginalised backgrounds where political con- at Aggredi resemble cognitive psychotherapy
flict has been a reality and cooperates with that focuses on questioning the acquired men-
schools, community, women’s organisations, tal images that guide bad behaviour (automatic
political groups, students, ex-prisoners/former thoughts) and making them less automatic.
combatants and youth organisations within
the island of Ireland (North and South) and u Libera. Associazioni Nomi e Numeri
between Britain and Ireland. contro le mafie (Libera. Associations,
Glencree employs methods of relational Names and Numbers against mafias), Italy
work, single identity group work, facilitated di- Libera (LI) is an NGO that engages both in
alogue, activity based workshops, restorative prevention and targeted firstline work of
circles and participants’ forums. Basic ground mafia-disengagement and human rights/social
rules to create safety through respect, equality, skills education. Within this context LI engages
honesty, self-expression and voluntary en- with at-risk or afflicted young people leaning
gagement apply to all formats of work. towards involvement in mafias and towards
life-styles characterised by prejudice, xenopho-
u HelsinkiMissio, Aggredi, Finland bia, racism, sexism, machismo and violence.
HelsinkiMissio (HM) is a non-governmental LI practitioners come from various back-
organisation for social services that was grounds such as teaching and social work; LI
founded in 1883. HM’s Aggredi programme, collaborates with more than 4,500 schools
which was started in 2006 and formerly called and 1,600 national and local organisations on
Aikalisä (Time Out), addresses many different and around youth work and social issues in
target groups. Working with the 18 to 39- Italy, and increasingly worldwide. The focus is
year-old offenders, the only thing that defines on disenfranchised and mafia-afflicted com-
the clientele is their history of violent crimes, munities.
ranging from former gang members and LI’s approach combines the elements of
members of right wing organisations. How- social re-integration, non-repressive and
ever, the main target group in deradicalisation restorative justice methods, alternative conflict
work are people planning school or mass resolution, intensive and long-term awareness
killings (lonely wolves). and activity settings (the one year first-of-
Aggredi’s main goal is to decrease or en- fender project “Amunì”), violent act reflection
tirely stop violence on the personal level. The work with ex-offenders, the “Casa della
other goal is to develop methods of working Memoria” (Memory House) approach, andFINAL REPORT
15
“liberated lands” setting in confiscated mafia u NIACRO Northern Ireland Association
estates. While LI works mostly with young for the Care and Resettlement of
people and first-offenders, it recognises the Offenders, the United Kingdom
need to also work with the more hardened NIACRO is an NGO that has been working
and older offenders and to participate in de- for 40 years to reduce crime and victimisation
veloping suitable training and rehabilitation by means of offender reintegration, preven-
programmes in the future. tion, community work, multi-agency commu-
nication and since recently, also in targeted
u Never Again Association, Poland perpetrator rehabilitation interventions. While
Never Again Association (NA) is an NGO the terms ‘radicalisation’ and ‘deradicalisation’
that works in awareness raising, research, are not used in Northern Ireland, practition-
monitoring of racist and hate crime incidents ers of social services acknowledge that indi-
and, on some recent occasions, carries out viduals, groupings and communities have been
firstline deradicalisation work with rightwing radicalised by events in a way that leads up to
extremist football fans on an individual basis. terrorist violence.
Those young people are inclined to engage in However, the concept of hate crime is not
violence, racist aggressively nationalist and fully accepted or acted upon by the various
xenophobic behaviour, anti-state offenses and stakeholders. In its most recent EU project,
also fundamentalist Roman Catholic dis- Challenge Hate Crime (CHC), NIACRO in
course. conjunction with the Northern Ireland Prison
NA works on a national scale, providing Service sought to examine a range of inter-
educational programs for teachers, police staff vention methods that international partners
and community workers on how to deal with had developed for perpetrators in prison, re-
racism and hate crime. The underlying lating to hate crime, violent polarisation and
methodology includes principles of informa- in particular to violence going back to sectar-
tion and training. NA practitioners come from ian motivations.
various professional backgrounds, such as po- As far as methodology is concerned, the
litical and social studies, social work, and edu- CHC approach is holistic and follows the logic
cation/schools. of open-process intervention work as op-
A particularly promising aspect of the NA posed to cognitive behavioural trainings. It is
approach might be that it works closely with based on voluntary participation, informed in-
the national authorities and promotes some tervention, engages in individual case work,
confidence building with politics; also NA in- narrative methods and involves victims of hate
tegrates football work and general awareness crime either directly or by proxy through a
raising. At present, NA occasionally looks into restorative process.
the field of prison work, attempting to de-
velop the methods of firstline perpetrator u Race on the Agenda, the United Kingdom
work with the more hardened extremists and Race on the Agenda (ROTA) is a social action
hate crime offenders. organisation which was founded 30 years agoEUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
16
as a result of joint efforts for a representative lice and security services to develop ef-
body to ensure that the Race Relations Act fective policy.
1976 and its underlying principles were im- RecoRa provides a number of services and
plemented by public authorities of London trainings which include for example courses
and beyond. and master classes for frontline staff, mentors,
The gendered strategy of Rota regarding governmental organisations and communities.
deradicalisation is based on policy shaping and It embeds expertise within organisations by
building community capabilities and practices train the trainer programmes, organisational
that could support victims of racial discrimi- development, mentoring and customised sup-
nation, dealing with white rightwing extremists port to deal with ideological violence and to
or having an impact on girls affected by gang increase resilience in the community.
violence. Rota does not engage directly in the RecoRa links research to policy to practice by
deradicalisation of youth. From a Rota per- arranging seminars, conferences and forums
spective it is important to focus on the front- with local and national authorities, performing
line staff with regard to building up capacity research assessment and participating in the
and knowledge in restorative justice as a European Radicalisation Awareness Network,
process to deradicalise for example right wing UNICRE and The Global Forum for Counter
extremists and those involved in low level Terrorism.
racial violence. All projects undertaken aim to
increase the awareness among skilled person- u Sankofa – 7E Youth Academy, the United
nel and their clients of the damage caused to Kingdom
humans and how to deal with this. 7E Youth Academy (7EYA) is an organisation
which works at ground level with young peo-
u The RecoRa Institute, the United Kingdom ple in gang/extremist communities; classified
The RecoRa Institute (RecoRa) is a partner- as hard to reach by local government depart-
ship of organisations and individuals from ments. The philosophy is that the most pre-
Sweden, the Netherlands and the United cious resource of humanity are young people;
Kingdom. It works on a not for profit basis to it is them who possess the greatest potential
embed expertise relating to recognising and for the overall improvement of the human
responding to ideological violence under- condition globally and so, the work is with
pinned by global jihadist and right wing ide- young people, their communities and their
ologies. RecoRa works on a number of families. 7EYA wants the young it works with
inter-related levels: to have a positive worldview, to disengage
1.directly engaging in work with at risk indi- from negative behaviour and become cre-
viduals or groups; ators of their own personal development. It
2.mentoring and training frontliners engaged also wants ’ghettos‘ to become safe and pro-
in deradicalisation work; ductive areas for people to stay in, where
3.training community activists, and people of different ethnic and religious back-
4.training policy makers in municipalities, po- grounds can live in peace, mutual appreciationFINAL REPORT
17
and respect. 7EYA uses education, heritage moral development and conflict management.
study and information sharing as tools to im- Training effects on youngsters include leaving
prove the self esteem of the clients, their per- isolation, restoring contacts with parents and
sonal economic circumstances and help them family, gaining new perspective on their own
along the path towards self improvement and life and more resilience to risky temptations.
personal development. 7EYA uses empirical SIPI colleagues took part in the “diamond
methodology combined with established re- train the trainer programme” and want to
search and best practice to continuously im- support young people who struggle with their
prove the methodological approaches. It identity.
wants the work to be effective in helping in-
dividuals and communities cope with the chal- u Straathoekwerk (Street Corner Work)
lenges caused by gang violence, extremism, in Zaanstad, the Netherlands
racism, social exclusion and financial exclu- Straathoekwerk in Zaanstad (SWZ) started
sion/poverty. as a small NGO of street workers in the
1980s and is now financed by the local gov-
u Stichting voor Interculturele Participatie ernment. SWZ reaches out to all at risk young
en Integratie (Foundation for Intercultural people who are entangled in problems of ad-
Participation and Integration), the Nether- diction, housing, job and social life, and/or
lands show signs of radicalisation and violence,
The Stichting voor Interculturele Participatie which includes rightwing and somewhat in-
en Integratie (SIPI) in Amsterdam is an inde- creasingly also some Islamist sympathisers and
pendent organisation financed through proj- related low-level gang activity.
ects and language lessons by municipalities, SWZ colleagues are qualified social work-
ministries and funds. SIPI developed deradical- ers and operate in a detached manner, di-
isation training for young migrant people and rectly on the street. The methodological
a train the trainer-formation programme. The principles are trust and relationship-building,
name of the training programme is Diamond. open-process, participatory and group-fo-
SIPI offers coaching and advice on the local cused approach, supportive-challenging basic
training implementation. attitude and intersectional perspective. Faced
SIPI “Diamond” anti-radicalisation training with temporary waves of neo-Nazi group for-
for youngsters mainly includes group trainings mations SWZ developed an interdisciplinary
and personal coaching. The objective of the team method engaging colleagues from social
training for Muslim youngsters is to empower work, school and community police, and de-
them and to make them more resilient to veloped a method of preventive/motivational
risks of radicalisation, polarisation, criminality, family interviewing with group members and
school dropout and psychological problems, their families.
all as a consequence of identity problems. In the future SWZ intends to explore pre-
Components of the training are empower- ventive/motivational family interviewing in
ment and personal skills (= turning point), other social contexts; SWZ would also like toEUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
18
increase its engagement in international prac- about questions of identity, belonging and re-
tice exchange. ligiosity. This also involves the phenomena of
Islamism and ethnic-nationalist ideologies.
u Tarjama, France Ufuq operates at the junction of educa-
Tarjama (TA) is a non-governmental organi- tion, research and public debate and there-
sation/community initiative that works in reli- fore, it also focuses on teachers,
gious education, community work and administration employees, police officers and
prevention in Sevran, a French “sensitive urban Muslim organisations.
area” with a majority Muslim population. In Ufuq develops and uses educational short-
Sevran young disenfranchised people from films and other teaching materials in peer-
north-African family backgrounds are subject guide-moderated workshops aimed at
to social disintegration, drug trafficking and stimulating youngsters to critically discuss ex-
Salafist radicalisation supported by organisa- periences of discrimination and marginalisa-
tions from the Persian Gulf countries. It is here tion, religious values as well as questions of
that the 2006 Parisian banlieue riots took belonging and identity and empower them
place. with alternative narratives of engagement, ac-
TA works mostly around Arab speaking tivism and success.
mosque communities and reaches out by Ufuq is currently developing an innovative
audio translated Friday sermons and on the deradicalisation project that focuses on the
ground community work to those young peo- Web 2.0.
ple who increasingly separate from mosques.
TA applies various methods from religious ed- u Verein zur Förderung akzeptierender
ucation, social media activities as well as the Jugendarbeit e.V. (Association to promote
internet and uses community organising acceptance-based youth work), Germany
strategies. TA’s practitioners mostly grew up Der Verein zur Förderung akzeptierender Ju-
in the community and often are returning gendarbeit e.V. (VAJA) is an NGO which
professionals serving as role models for the started acceptance-based youth work, in the
young people at risk of exclusion and radical- 1990s, in Bremen. Besides other target groups,
isation. VAJA deals with rightwing orientated youth
groups and youngsters attracted by Islamism
u ufuq.de – Jugendkultur, Religion und and Salafism, respectively, youths displaying ex-
politische Bildung in der Einwanderungs- tremely intolerant behaviour in terms of
gesellschaft (ufuq.de – Youth culture, group-focused hostility, misanthropic attitudes
religion and civic education in migration and/or youngsters susceptible to violence in
societies), Germany general.VAJA also offers advisory services for
Ufuq is an NGO that works primarily with parents and persons who are in direct contact
youngsters from Muslim and/or immigrant with the affected youth.
background. It aims at empowering young- VAJA works on the basis of a street work
sters in their daily life and initiates discussions approach and mainly meets the youngsters atFINAL REPORT
19
the public places of their own choice; but it methodological training course to become an
also runs prevention and deradicalisation ac- AKT®-Trainer [Anti-Violence-and-Key-Com-
tivities in a range of different social sectors and petency-Trainer]. The low recidivism rate,
institutions. Therefore, VAJA uses an approach based on an external independent evaluation
which includes clique work, individual aid and during the last four years, is a particularly
parental involvement as well as project and promising aspect of that approach because it
community work. A fundamental prerequisite helps to avoid new crimes (and victims) and
for VAJA’s method is building trustful relation- thus, saves high expenses which would other-
ships with the young persons concerned. wise be borne by the society.
A particularly promising aspect of VAJA’s
work might be their biographical work, con- u West London Initiative, the United
centrating on the individual biographical and Kingdom
life-related aspects of various clique members, West London Initiative (WLI) is an NGO that
which can be identified by staff as critical ele- works in firstline deradicalisation with young
ments of right-extremist or other extremely people at risk of developing extremist beliefs
intolerant orientation. based upon erroneous ideologies that are
propagated by extremist ideologues. The
u Violence Prevention Network e.V., focus is towards the targeted clientele of con-
Germany verts, second and third generation Muslims
Violence Prevention Network (VPN) is an born and brought up in the United Kingdom,
NGO that works both in prevention and first- including those from other countries and their
line deradicalisation with (young) people that families.
are susceptible to violent rightwing extremism WLI works in inner-city areas; it is primarily
or religious fundamentalism. VPN works at aimed at young Muslim youths in West Lon-
youth detention centres as well as in youth don communities. WLI’s approach is grass
and adult prisons, and also conducts stabilisa- roots and non-judgemental. The NGO iden-
tion coaching after the participant’s release tifies the dilemmas faced by the youth com-
throughout the country. munity through interaction during debates,
VPN applies a deradicalisation approach, safer platform or workshop discussions and
which combines anti-violence-training with aims to deliver intervention methods which
civic education and pedagogical training mod- educate, empower, build resilience and pro-
ules. The training is performed for 5 months mote participation in civil society.
during imprisonment and is followed up by WLI’s work includes the direct and indirect
coaching after release. targeting of members of other organisations
All VPN coaches have had many years of who directly or indirectly promote or entice
relevant work experience with violent youths others towards acts of violence in the name
before joining the team. In addition to their of race, religion, colour, creed etc. WLI also
other existing qualifications, every coach is re- works in conjunction with various Muslim/
quired to take a 12 month long, advanced non-Muslim youth organisations, mosques andEUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
20
Islamic centres as well as with local authorities, Hungary:
schools, colleges, the civil service, embassies Foresee Research Group Nonprofit Ltd.
and international delegations.
The Republic of Ireland:
u Profiles by country: Co-operation Ireland
Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation
Austria:
EUISA– European Union of Independent Stu- Italy:
dents and Academics EXIT S.C.S. Onlus
Libera. Associazioni Nomi e Numeri contro
The Czech Republic: le mafie (Libera. Associations, Names and
ERUDITIO PUBLICA o.p.s. Numbers against mafias)
Denmark: The Netherlands:
Back on Track – Ministry of Social Affairs and Stichting voor Interculturele Participatie en In-
Integration / Department of the Prison and tegratie (Foundation for Intercultural Partici-
Probation Service pation and Integration),
Straathoekwerk (Street Corner Work) in Za-
Finland: anstad
HelsinkiMissio, Aggredi
Poland:
France: Never Again Association
Tarjama
Slovakia:
Germany: Centre for European and North Atlantic Af-
Cultures Interactive e.V. fairs
EUISA - European Union of Independent Stu-
dents and Academics Sweden:
Gangway – Straßensozialarbeit in Berlin (So- Fryshuset, Passus
cial Streetwork in Berlin)
ufuq.de – Jugendkultur, Religion und politische The United Kingdom:
Bildung in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft Active Change Foundation
(Youth culture, religion and civic education in Northern Ireland Association for the Care
migration societies) and Resettlement of Offenders
Verein zur Förderung akzeptierender Jugen- Race on the Agenda
darbeit e.V. (Association to promote accept- The RecoRa Institute
ance-based youth work) Sankofa – 7E Youth Academy
Violence Prevention Network e.V. West London InitiativeFINAL REPORT
5. Similarities and Differences of Methods and
Approaches 21
The European Network of Deradicalisation With respect to the area of Base Activities, it
combines together the expertise of interna- can be determined that (violence) prevention
tional institutions and NGOs in the field of is seen as the main focus of work. Firstline de-
deradicalisation. In the process, both common radicalisation has not yet been implemented
and different areas of work and approaches by all members. Next come exit programmes
have been found. The varied similarities and which are found more rarely among current
differences will be described below.The crite- members. Prevention projects are numerically
ria being investigated can be found in the cen- overrepresented in comparison to the other
tral part of the following figures, including Base two procedures. The combination of focal
Activities, Target Groups, Work Areas and areas of work thereby becomes the represen-
Methodological Approach. The categories tation of an actual range of measures as found
arranged around the centre indicate frequent in Europe.
or less frequent procedures. Figure 1: Base Activities
Exit
strategies Firstline
deradicalisation
Base Prevention
ActivitiesEUROPEAN NETWORK OF DERADICALISATION
22
The target groups which the members of the The fact that the target groups of politically
European Network of Deradicalisation work and religiously motivated extremists only play
with are more wide-ranging. The range of in- a lesser role is simply due to the fact that not
dividuals who are addressed by the network all network partners are (yet) active in derad-
operators are mostly adolescents and young icalisation (see figure 1). In addition, there are
adults who are in danger of turning to an ide- two members in the network that are respec-
ological environment prepared for violence. tively involved in exit programmes for people
However, work is almost as frequently done in mafia structures and cults.
with people showing alterophobic attitudes
and belonging to the so-called majority soci-
ety. In this context alterophobic means the re-
jection of anything unfamiliar, i.e. people who
do not correspond to a personally defined
norm.This prejudice-dominated way of think-
Figure 2: Target Groups ing often leads to systematic discrimination.
Islamistic
inspired
Rightwing fundamentalists
extremists People with
alterophobic,
racist,
exclusionary
Mafia attitudes
Cult Target Young people
Groups at riskYou can also read
