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RAN Newsletter Archive (83)
RSSIn the latest RAN Spotlight publication, we featured the first in a series of programmes which explored the impact of COVID-19 on the P/CVE environment in Europe. In this issue of the RAN Update, we feature the second and third programme in this series which explore how we can overcome some of these challenges. Meanwhile, given the background of the perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Vienna the topic of rehabilitation has been brought sharply into focus. In this issue of the RAN Update we look at how RAN is addressing the topic.
In this Special Issue, we announce the launch of RAN’s Design Competition for schools across the EU. The aim is to increase awareness of the European Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism. The winning design will be used to promote the next Remembrance Day on 11 March 2021 and will become a symbol of remembrance.
This month we look back to the 9th annual RAN Plenary event – the one time in the year when RAN practitioners from all Working Groups come together to reflect on the year that has been and look ahead at the year to come. In her opening address, EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson called upon the RAN network to build social cohesion in 2021.
This month we look ahead to a series of activities that will give practitioners the opportunity to exchange views, insights and experiences. The list includes the annual RAN Plenary, as well as digital meetings, a webinar, two films and the next edition of the RAN Spotlight. We’re also launching a new panel to bring together leading practitioners and policymakers to discuss the most important P/CVE issues.
June started with Member State workshops on evaluating P/CVE programmes and interventions. The workshops addressed strategic and practical questions on conducting PCVE evaluation, and how to influence the general mindset on evaluation while providing insights and tools to take PCVE evaluation to the next level. We also conducted two study visits, one in Leicester on youth involvement, and another in Hessen to learn how to deal with juvenile violent extremist offenders in prison and on probation. You can also find out about RAN’s past and upcoming activities in this Update. Happy reading!
Responses to returnees
This Update Special focuses on how to deal with returning foreign fighters and their families. The newsletter provides a round-up of a conference on the same topic that took place in Brussels in June, and introduces the ‘RAN Manual – Responses to returnees: foreign terrorist fighters and their families’. The Manual is now available online in English, French and German.
From 22 to 23 May, over 30 RAN practitioners gathered at the Irish Probation Service in Dublin to discuss foreign terrorist fighter returnees, probation methods used for other high-risk groups and the training needs of probation staff working with radicalised persons. May also saw the appointment of a new Chair for the RAN LOCAL Working Group. Kasper Fisker has worked in crime prevention for two decades and is looking forward to putting his expertise at the disposal of RAN. June will be fruitful in events with a thematic event about returnees on 19 June in Brussels. A new manual on returnees will be unveiled the same day.
2018 is approaching, and you can read about RAN’s plans for next year in this newsletter. The activity plan takes stock of a need for greater exchange between policy-makers and practitioners, and outlines ideas for a policy and practice events. Emerging trends, such as interdependency between far-right and far-left extremism and jihadism will be also examined. Other priorities for 2018 include contact between first-line practitioners and the families of foreign terrorist fighters, working with the children of returnees, engagement with (religious) communities – by policy-makers as well as practitioners, polarisation, multi-agency approaches, and greater engagement with researchers. The Update also has details of upcoming and recent activities.
The Health and Social Care Working Group (RAN H&SC) was one of several meeting in April. The meeting was an opportunity to discuss training needs for (mental) health and social care practitioners – find out more in this newsletter. You can also read about the outcomes of the RAN Study visit to Northern Ireland on community engagement and building resilience. And RAN trainers were in Warsaw last month at the invitation of the Polish Police Headquarters for a train-the trainer session focused on prevention. Read all about this, and other recent activities!
The role of psychology and neuroscience in the process of radicalisation were on the RAN agenda in February, as was the role of local communities in tackling radicalisation, and the role of the police online. The RAN YOUNG group met in Stockholm to discuss how to hold difficult conversations, and our Steering Committee gathered in Brussels to talk about recent policy developments. This Updates also unveils details of the first ‘Policy and Practice’ event of the year, on shared challenges linked to preventing and countering violent extremism in the Western Balkans and the EU.