Details
- Publication date
- 20 August 2024
- Author
- Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs
- Country
- Latvia
- RAN Publications Topic
- Restorative justice
Description
Conflict resolution methods, such as peacebuilding, mediation, and restorative justice approaches, have the potential to enhance efforts to reintegrate violent extremists and terrorists into society in a sustainable way. The aim of this RAN REHABILITATION Working Group meeting was to assess the extent to which conflict resolution approaches are already being used in rehabilitation in the EU and beyond. It also explored the potential of incorporating such individuals into disengagement, deradicalisation, and reintegration (DDR) programmes.
During the meeting, rehabilitation practitioners and conflict resolution experts and practitioners shared experiences of working with violent and extremist terrorist offenders (VETOs), as well as with victims and communities affected by violent extremism using conflict resolution methods. The focus of rehabilitation is not only on the individual but also on the wider community. By emphasising dialogue, reparation, and community-led processes and engaging strategies, underlying grievances and tensions can be addressed in a comprehensive manner. Participants identified existing and potential synergies between rehabilitation and conflict resolution. They explored whether and how conflict resolution methods could contribute to current needs, challenges, limitations, and opportunities in rehabilitation.
The meeting concluded with the formulation of recommendations and guidelines aimed at integrating conflict mediation approaches into rehabilitation efforts. The following key insights and challenges were identified:
- Approaches aimed at exchanges between the “difficult others” are already present in rehabilitation practices, although they may not necessarily be labelled as restorative justice.
- As practitioners, use restorative justice first and foremost as a mindset that can be applied to rehabilitation.
- VETOs must be prepared to engage with others, such as family, friends, community and rehabilitation workers, as part of their rehabilitation process. Conflict mediation, and particularly engaging with victims, can be challenging. Therefore, it should ideally not be the first step of engagement.
