Distinguished Ministers,
Dear colleagues,
Dear friends,
It is a pleasure to be with you here today; for this 4th High Level Conference of the Radicalisation Awareness Network.
I would like to thank the RAN for bringing us all together here, in the presence of Ministers, policy-makers, practitioners, and experts from across Europe.
Your presence here shows how active and engaged we all are, in continuing our work to prevent, and to counter radicalisation: a phenomenon which continues to challenge the very fabric of our societies.
Dear all, We all operate in a security environment which is in constant flux.
Threats come from a great variety of sources, and manifest themselves in ways which challenge our security frameworks, our institutions and our democracies themselves.
Foremost among them, is terrorism. And while we faced acts of terrorism from those coming from the outside intending to cause us harm, it is the so-called “lone wolves” that cause the greatest concerned.
Those radicalised almost overnight on the internet, and resort to crude, do-it-yourself terrorism.
Too many of these attacks have been committed in the past year by self-radicalised individuals.
And you know better than me: this is probably the toughest threat to defend ourselves against.
Tackling the home-grown, self-radicalised terrorist, makes it indispensible for all of us to fight the battle for ideas.
Where the threat is not perceptible in most cases, until it is too late.
For this reason, we focussed our attention on the most urgent and pressing issue, which is the radicalisation happening on the internet.
Time and time again we saw the nexus between terrorist content online and attacks committed on our streets.
That is why we proposed new legislation on preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online, with strict deadlines to remove content within 1 hour.
With the internet being the perfect echo chamber for terrorist propaganda, this is an initiative which is very much linked to the work that you, the front-line practitioners, are doing in your local communities.
And this is why this Conference today is so important.
Because you are our ears on the ground, and the spearheads of all our work on radicalisation – both online and on the street.
It is clear that while radicalisation happens at the local level, its security implications are felt at all levels and across borders.
This is why, after a year long reflection, we restructured the way we make policy on radicalisation.
With a closer involvement of our Member States to steer the priorities with the Commission.
But still a very strong emphasis of the work to be done by front-line practitioners at the most micro level possible in communities.
This conference provides a unique opportunity to connect the dots between all these different levels and actors, including us here at the EU level.
The particular issues we discuss today, of child returnees and the release of violent extremist prisoners back into their communities, exemplify the common challenges we face in this area.
Preparation and prevention should remain the cornerstones of our work.
When it comes to the Children of Daesh, we have a paramount moral and social responsibility to address both their vulnerability as victims,
but also the potential risk they could develop into in the future.
These are children that experienced war, that lost parents and that lived their early, formative years in an environment of terror.
Many of them witnessed horrific violence, torture and executions, and probably have come to think that this is normal childhood.
Boys were probably given weapons training. Possibly also training in carrying out suicide bombings.
Some might have taken part in military activities, and we know that some even participated in executions.
They were groomed in propaganda, raised to be loyal to the horrors of the regime, and brainwashed to be angry against Daesh’s enemies.
These minors have undergone a programme of deliberate de-sensitisation to atrocities and may be traumatised.
As a result, they may be more willing to engage in violence.
Those children that arrive in Europe as refugees may have also lived horrible experiences at the hands of human smugglers and traffickers during their journeys.
All this, to say that our responsibilities towards child returnees are very serious.
And if we do not live up to these responsibilities, the security consequences in the future might be heavy.
These children would be prime candidates for radicalisation in the near future.
The lessons learnt in the context of the Radicalisation Awareness Network should guide our future work.
I know for example that France and the Netherlands have shared extremely useful experiences on running mental health checks immediately upon arrival and throughout the rehabilitation process.
Immediate care and long-term support from services such as law enforcement and security agencies, child protection services, school authorities, social care workers, as well as mental health services, and the support of families and communities is absolutely necessary.
Developing resilience and re-integration into society should be the central aim of our work with these children.
And this is also an over-arching objective of our work in the area of prison radicalisation.
This is something which I had the opportunity to discuss with G6 Ministers, as well as with the United States and Morocco in Lyon earlier this week.
It is clear that here again, the complexity of the issue is enormous: both in terms of ensuring that our prisons do not become hotbeds of radicalisation; but also in terms of ensuring that those released from prison do not slide back into extremism when they are out.
In fact the two are mutually reinforcing: because the reasons that might lead a person to get radicalised in prison, are similar to the reasons that might push a person to slide back into to extremism once out of prison.
Within prisons, observation and monitoring are key, and the mechanisms need to be in place in our prisons for this monitoring to be effective.
Inmates convicted of terrorist offences, for example, are not the same as minor criminals that may be susceptible to extremist ideologies.
Risk assessments are key to determine the appropriate course of action and I know that several Member States, like Spain and the United Kingdom, have developed specific tools for this purpose.
Guards need to be trained to spot signs of radicalisation.
Detention conditions need to be adapted to these assessments to prevent radicalisation risks.
Italy for example drew the lessons from experiences with Mafia groups, and separates terrorist offenders from members of organised criminal groups.
In France, inmates who are open to disengaging from extremist circles, are separated from those who are not.
These lessons are crucial for our collective response, and our resilience in the future.
The value of the Radicalisation Awareness Network consists exactly in drawing these experiences together.
I want to hear from Ministers in this session on the preparedness of their national support structures to deal with these two challenges.
Both for children and for prison inmates, their needs and therefore the strategies we need to develop will vary, according to their own specific circumstances.
Distinguished Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is imperative that we support the most vulnerable members of society.
Let us be sensitive to the trauma the Children of Daesh have lived in conflict zones or within their own families.
Let us ensure they are supported by all available means and care possible.
At the same time, it is vital that we ensure the security of our citizens.
The future risks are real when these children grow up, and need to be addressed.
The same applies to prison inmates, both within prison, and when they are released. We need to invest in their successful disengagement from violent extremism.
But also to ensure that within the prison environment they are monitored and lured away from extremism with education, the development of critical thinking, healthy social relationships and a future outside prison.
I am sure that today’s conference will be an important contribution to these objectives.
Thank you for your attention.