Background and topic of the meeting

In recent years, regular and irregular, planned and unplanned flows of international migration have intensified on both a European and a global level. Immigration is a phenomenon that always shifts the global demographic balance, especially in highly developed societies. It can also affect labour market, housing, economy, public services and communities. Thereby, moments of intense immigration push a reshaping of citizens’ attitudes towards immigrants. The way in which these attitudes develop can be influenced by rhetoric of political parties, (non-governmental) organisations and (social) media coverage, to name but a few. It can also be influenced by narratives of extremist groups aimed at the general public. Strong anti-immigration sentiments can be a cause of polarisation in society, which in turn can create a fertile breeding ground for radicalisation of individuals or groups.

Objectives of the meeting

RAN Practitioners is organising a small-scale expert session to explore the relationship between citizens’ attitudes towards migration and what that means for preventing radicalisation leading to violent extremism and terrorism.

The focus and main key questions are:

1. Which drivers of anti-immigrant attitudes have the biggest influence on the developments in the extremist landscape?
2. What does it look like for particular forms of extremism (violent right-wing extremism, anti-system anti-authority extremism [ASAGE], violent left-wing extremism and Islamist extremism)?
3. How can P/CVE practitioners be prepared to be able to respond to migration-related developments in the breeding ground of extremism and radicalisation?

The answers can lead to recommendations for future activities of RAN, the Commission and Member States.

Call for participants

We are currently inviting practitioner experts and experts with extensive knowledge relevant to exploring the relationships between migration, attitudes, violent extremism and P/CVE to respond to this call. The type of (practitioner) experts we are looking for are, for example:

1. practitioners with street-level experience (local, education, police);
2. experts with extensive knowledge on different forms of extremism, their narratives and strategies, as well as breeding grounds and radicalisation processes;
3. research experts with knowledge on anti-immigration attitudes.

Participation will be limited to 12-15 participants.

If you are interested in participating in this meeting, please register through the following link.

Deadline and practical information

Please fill in the registration form before 29 March. We will invite participants based on the answers given. Please keep in mind that we can only invite a limited number of participants to this meeting to ensure valuable exchanges and interaction, so participation is not guaranteed.

Travel and accommodation are arranged and covered by RAN, and the meeting will be held in English.  

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact RAN Staff members Steven Lenos or Sophie Kuijper.