In October, many members of the RAN Practitioners network from all over Europe met up in Brussels for the RAN Practitioners Plenary event. The annual event was attended by delegates from the European Commission, RAN Working Group leads, and practitioners representing each of the Working Groups and RAN YOUNG. The main purpose of the event was to set the agenda for the year ahead. In this Special Edition of the RAN Practitioners Update therefore, we take a brief look at what was discussed at the RAN Practitioners Plenary event, as well as provide an update on the RAN in the Western Balkans project.
RAN Practitioners Plenary
Setting the agenda for the year ahead
The RAN Practitioners Plenary, which gathers once per year, brought together practitioners actively engaged in the network in order to take stock of past achievements as well as discuss priorities for the next year. The Plenary, which was held offline for the first time in three years, offered an opportunity to: address new topical angles in P/CVE; meet beyond the normal composition of the Working Groups; and discuss not only topics relevant in the respective Working Groups, but also to address cross-cutting issues. The outcomes of the event have been captured in a conclusion paper which will be published on the RAN website here in the coming weeks.
Message from the Director-General
In an opening address given by Monique Pariat to participants at the RAN Practitioners Plenary, the Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs, thanked – on behalf of the European Commission – RAN practitioners for their hard work over the past year. She committed to supporting them to tackle the challenges of today and called on practitioners to “reach out to marginalised groups” and “promote European values.”
Emerging trends and topics
The first day of the RAN Practitioners Plenary explored the current trends and topics of concern to RAN practitioners. These discussions were informed by a survey of over 300 members of the RAN Practitioners network conducted prior to the event, which found that the following topics were of most concern: the link between mental health, trauma and radicalisation; online radicalisation; anti-establishment, anti-authorities and anti-government extremism; and, violent right-wing extremism, in particular the growing accelerationism movement. In break-out groups, participants also discussed the thin line between activism (such as climate change protests) and extremism, and disinformation in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
RAN in the Western Balkans
Introduction to the project
The RAN in the Western Balkans project has now been up and running for a number of months, connecting practitioners from across the region to exchange knowledge, good practices and ideas on a number of key P/CVE issues relevant to them, namely the management of returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters and their families, and the rise of violent right-wing extremism. An infographic provides a snapshot of the project, the challenge it is helping participants to tackle and the activity it is delivering.
The infographic can be viewed here.
Stay tuned for more information about the RAN in the Western Balkans project in upcoming Updates.
Upcoming Events
For more information on all planned meetings over the coming months of 2022 please go to the RAN Practitioners website.
Contact us
RAN Practitioners is implemented by RadarEurope, which is a subsidiary of the RadarGroup:
- Phone: +31 (0)20 468 06 08 (office)
- E-Mail: ran
radareurope [dot] nl (ran[at]radareurope[dot]nl)
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