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Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)

RAN Practitioners Update 88 | October 2021

In this issue

Foreword

Children of Foreign Terrorist Fighters

High Level Conference & Plenary

Online campaigning in P/CVE

Upcoming events

Latest Publications

Foreword

Over the past few years European Member States have been faced by the challenge of returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), who continue to return in small numbers. Much of our P/CVE work has centred on how to handle FTFs, including how to rehabilitate and reintegrate them and their families back into European society. One of the more challenging aspects of this work is how to reintegrate children of FTFs, which is the focus of this month’s RAN Practitioners Update.

The Update features a Spotlight magazine, which contains articles and interviews from practitioners that span each area that affects the life of a child returning from such troubled circumstances life: their families, their schools and education, their local communities and their psychological situation. The Update also continues to look ahead to the upcoming High Level Conference and Plenary, whilst it also includes the latest film from the 10 Year Anniversary series, this time highlighting RAN’s achievements since its foundation.

Children of Foreign Terrorist Fighters

Spotlight

The latest edition of the RAN Practitioners Spotlight magazine features a series of articles, case studies and interviews with practitioners and Working Group leads highlighting their work with children of Foreign Terrorist Fighters.

The magazine hears about the work of practitioners from a number of different fields relevant to the life of these children. These include: the importance and role of their families, the challenges faced in schools and education, their place in local communities, their general rehabilitation and their recovery from a psychological perspective.

You can view the Spotlight here.

Article – ‘Female Returnees and their Children’ - Kerstin Sischka

The latest edition of the RAN Practitioners Spotlight magazine features a new article from psychotherapist and practitioner Kerstin Sischka (Violence Prevention Network).

The article looks at psychotherapeutic perspectives on the rehabilitation of women and children from the former territories of the so-called Islamic State, identifying the important position that women and children are given in the ideology of radical political, or religious groups.

You can read the article in this month’s Spotlight.

High Level Conference & Plenary

Film

This new film is the latest in the series commemorating the 10 Year Anniversary of the RAN’s foundation. A mixture of animation and real-world footage, the film highlights the main achievements of RAN and its practitioners over the last decade, as it continues to address the evolving and emerging terrorist and extremist threats.

You can view the film here.

High Level Conference and Plenary

The dates for the RAN High Level Conference & RAN Plenary are confirmed as:

The High Level Conference 2021 (10 Years of RAN) will take place on Tuesday 12 October 2021 (afternoon)
The Plenary 2021 will be held on Wednesday 13 October 2021.

Both events will be in an online format. Please check the RAN Website and your mailbox for more information relating to it.

Online campaigning in P/CVE

Results & lessons learned over the four years of the Civil Society Empowerment Programme

Over the past four years, the Civil Society Empowerment Programme (CSEP) has supported 20 diverse projects in their online P/CVE campaigns across the EU Member States. In a series of five webinars, these EU-funded projects will share their results and lessons learned.

If you want to learn more about the results of these different online campaigns, how to start your own online campaign, what is being done in your country, or generally more about P/CVE campaigns, join us at one or more upcoming webinar.

Learn more...

Upcoming events

Due to the global COVID pandemic, RAN Practitioners will continue to deliver all meetings in the coming months online. For more information on planned meetings please go to the RAN website. A number of other meetings planned for the first few months of 2021 will be published in due time.

Working with communities and religious figures

RAN Y&E WG Meeting | 05-06 October 2021

RAN High Level Conference 2021 - 10 Years of RAN

12 October 2021

RAN Plenary 2021

13 October 2021

Contemporary Online Islamist Extremism

Webinar (English, German & French) | 26-29 October 2021

Joint P/CVE training on mental health aspects in P/CVE

RAN HEALTH WG Meeting (multi-meeting with input from RAN POL, Prison, FC&S and Y&E) | 04-05 November 2021

Small-scale meeting on Returning foreign terrorist fighters: exploring post-conflict reconciliation

08 November 2021

Small-scale expert meeting P/CVE perspectives on the vulnerabilities of asylum seekers and refugee communities

18 November 2021

Working with (violent) right wing extremists in your communit

RAN FC&S WG Meeting (multi-meeting with input from RAN LOCAL and POL) | 23-24 November 2021

Inclusion through sports

RAN Y&E WG Meeting | 30 November-01 December 2021

Please keep an eye on the calendar on the RAN website for up-to-date information.

Latest Publications

Dealing with returning children and their mothers from Daesh: taking stock and going forward

A new paper based on the RAN FC&S multi-meeting held on 19-20 May 2021. The meeting addressed the topic of children and their mothers returning from previously Daesh-controlled territory.

Repatriated foreign terrorist fighters and their families: European experiences and lessons for P/CVE

A new paper presents an overview of approaches towards the management of repatriated foreign terrorist fighters and their families in EU countries and in the Western Balkans, with concrete examples of practices, multi-agency and coordination mechanisms as well as exit programmes and interventions for both adult and child returnees.

Challenges and solutions when working with families of Foreign Terrorist Fighters

This paper highlights the challenges that family members “left behind” by FTFs who left for Syria and Iraq are encountering in their daily life, such as psychological issues, dealing with authorities, stigmatisation and/or practical and legal issues.

Contemporary manifestations of violent right-wing extremism in the EU. An overview of P/CVE practices.

A new paper that looks at the trend of rising right-wing violence across the EU, illustrating the need for adequate measures to prevent and counter the threat.

Conspiracy narratives and right-wing extremism – Insights and recommendations for P/CVE

A new paper highlights the proliferation of conspiracy narratives and their link to violent right-wing extremism.

Ethical guidelines for working on P/CVE in mental health care

This new paper describes the task of mental health professionals working in the context of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and provides guidance on how this can be undertaken to be consistent with ethical practice.

Risk assessment in prison

This paper provides a picture of risk assessment tools used in EU Member States both in the prison and security contexts.

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