EU approaches to CVE

The EU has acknowledged that there is an increasing need for focusing on preventive measures to combat violence and extremism. This issue cannot be addressed by the public authorities, but it needs to be supported and guided by the European Union and requires the collaboration with NGOs and civil society.

Countering violent extremism (CVE)

What is violent extremism? As already pointed out in the OSCE Report on radicalisation, the term “violent extremism” contains a wide range of meanings: It not only refers to terrorism, but also covers violent attacks and further actions such as spreading radical views or neglecting the national state. Nevertheless, defining what is extremism and what it is not, can be circumstantial and depends on the  societal, cultural, political or historical context. Therefore:

“Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism is a broad umbrella term to categorise activities that seek to prevent or mitigate Violent Extremism through non-coercive measures that are united by the objective of counteracting the factors of violent extremism.” [1]

Other than counter terrorism, Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) aims to tackle the process of radicalisation which precedes the manifestations of terrorism and is primarily facilitated by non-security associated forces such as civil society organisations or the educational sector. However, also the law enforcement sector engages is such activities by deploying for example a community police model. With unorthodox, positive measures and support, the social roots of radicalisation and terrorism are therefore directly addressed and potential pathways are anticipated.

“The aim is not to reach active terrorists, but create resilience among populations that are seen as potentially vulnerable (“prevention“), or assist individuals who are open to turning away from extremism (“de-radicalisation“).” [2]

EU approaches to countering violent extremism

To approach this multi-layered issue, the European Union has already set up a variety of programmes and initiatives:

• Operational guidance: A practical guideline was already set up in 2014, describing the framework of violent extremism and terrorism and explaining the strategy of the European Union that consists of four Pillars: Prevent, Protect, Pursue, and Respond. The guidance is intended to provide a comprehensive framework for the European Union in the areas of counter terrorism and counter violent extremism.

“Such a guidance would ensure that EU’s development and security cooperation in these sensitive areas is cognisant to the risks of such an intervention, and can design appropriately targeted programmes that meet the objectives whilst mitigating risks, all of which should align with the EU’s basic principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”

The guide also aims at providing expertise in regards of:

– defining the framework and helping to understand the phenomena of radicalisation and violent extremism;

– approaching vulnerabilities and factors that are contributing to those issues;

– assisting in designing intervention programmes and to draw lessons from already successful ones;

– providing guidance on monitoring of CVE programmes as well as identifying positive and negative examples;

– proposing indicators for measuring the impact of CT and CVE programmes.

• Workshops: Organised by the European Union in collaboration with civil society and intergovernmental organisations, specific workshops have been set up to address the topic and to present recommendations on issues related to countering violent extremism. One took place in Brussels in December and was intended to highlight the importance of security development and debate possible further methods to counter radicalisation. It was highlighted that the inclusion of societal factors – for example in education – is an important measure in this regard. Formerly, the focus was set predominately on security staff, now a pivot from security to social actors has to occur. Therefore, locally driven projects from public initiatives should also be promoted. Another debatable aspect was the idea of trust building: The lack of trust between social community, police and government hinders further cooperation and therefore, needs to be overcome.
• CVE initiatives: Various initiatives have been initiated within the framework of CVE: They include community debates, the training of government officials or security actors as well as mentorship- programmes targeted directly at vulnerable individuals. Other CVE programmes include the use of media messaging or dialogues between different religious groups, as well as counter-narratives and alternative narratives. However, CVE programmes sometimes struggle to draw a clear line between them and the existing established anti-poverty-, peacebuilding governance or education fields. That is why specific CVE initiatives must be concretely defined and targeted at extremist groups, movements or ideologies.
• EU Financial instruments: A wide range of financial institutions have been set up by the European Union and are available to help addressing this problem. Generally, targeting especially third countries in their development they can also come to action within the EU to counter extremist movements that develop out of poverty: One is the (EDF) European Development Fund to stimulate economic development in a targeted region. Another example is the (EIDHR) European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, which helps to support civil societies and strengthen individual rights. Next to that, various trust funds like the Regional Trust Fund for Syria were established to address the root of the conflicts and prevent further spreading of extremism.

Note: This article is based on the Guidelines on countering Terrorism by the European Union and the OSCE Report by Professor Peter R. Neumann (see reference below)

References

[1] European Commission (2014): Operational Guidelines on the preparation and implementation of EU financed actions specific to countering terrorism and violent extremism in third countries. https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/eu_ct_cve_guidelines.pdf

[2] Peter R. Neumann, (2017): Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalisation that Lead to Terrorism:

Ideas, Recommendations, and Good Practices from the OSCE Region https://www.osce.org/chairmanship/346841?download=true