Terrorism: How about listening to what victims have to say?

Association française des Victimes du Terrorisme (AfVT.org)

Association française des Victimes du Terrorisme (AfVT) was founded in 2009 by Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc after the Cairo bombing attack.

AFVT supports victims of terrorism in France and French victims of terrorism abroad by providing judicial (compensation, legal, socials issues) and long-term psychological support.

We also gather victims and invite them to share their stories at schools, prisons and online. We are also involved at the European and international level to bring together victims internationally.

Type of Organisation: NGO

AfVT (Association française des victimes du terrorisme) was established in 2009 to help victims of terrorism and combat radicalisation by promoting open dialogue between victims and the general public. The group has been working for a long time on victim’s testimonies, particularly online campaigns through its programmes “Voices” and “What if we were listening to victims”. As an association, it decided to move from online campaigns to fieldwork.

AfVT is bringing victims to middle and secondary schools to share their stories with the pupils. More than 500 pupils are reach each year.

AfVT gets in touch with a teacher, plans an intervention linked with the academic programme and prepares both victims and pupils. They moderate the intervention and collect feedback. The idea behind the intervention is to create a free and safe space of expression, make pupils understand that hatred is not the solution and develop critical thinking.

Bringing victims inside prisons is another aspect of AfVT’s activity. Victims are not perceived as a civil servant who is too far removed from the inmates’ reality but as a human being who suffered and deserves to be heard. The victim is thereby humanised, and this creates social cohesion, which is lacking in the prison environment. They can think about their own conditions and all the issues, not only related to terrorism, which is what brought them where they are today. It is a space of free speech and no judgment. It is also very important for victims themselves and their reconstruction.

Through conferences and debates in associations moderated by victims of terrorism, AfVT also promotes democratic values, solidarity and stimulates critical thinking. It also aims to humanise victims and make them more visible to young and/or vulnerable people.

Regarding interventions in school, AfVT publishes articles on its website. The articles (in French only) are available here.

The 21 videos produced through the European Commission’s Home Affairs programme “Victim’s Gathering: the voice of the survivors against radicalisation” can be found here.

The 10 videos produced by AfVT and CIPDR and involving French victims of terrorism, “Voices of victims against radicalisation” are available here.

AfVT is currently working on a handbook for teachers who would like to use the videos in class.

Following several meetings, AfVT contributed in the drafting RAN handbooks, such as Handbook: Voices of victims of terrorism.

Address

BP 91058
75829 Paris
Cedex 17 FRANCE

Contact person: Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc
Telephone: +33 1 84 79 10 10
Email | Website