Brussels, 19/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Close to 20 EU justice ministers met in Brussels on Monday 19 October to share practices on preventing radicalisation and terrorism. They agreed that rehabilitation programmes had to be put in place for those who had been radicalised on their return from abroad and imprisoned. According to French statistics (it is believed that 500 French nationals are already in Syria and Iraq and 3,000 individuals are “at risk”), 15% of those arrested and found guilty of terrorism charges had already spent time in prison and had been radicalised there.
The meeting, which was organised by the European Commission and the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, brought together, among others, the French, Belgian, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Austrian ministers, to discuss the role of justice systems in addressing radicalisation. Thus far, almost 5,000 European citizens have joined terrorist organisations in Syria and Iraq and foreign fighters and radicalisation are posing growing challenges to EU member states and raising fresh difficulties with regard to “fields of operations”, commented French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, with attacks taking place “in our countries” but planned from abroad by organisations “which control vast swathes of land and are wealthy”.
Confronted by what Taubira called a “real and immediate” threat, member states are still responding in different ways and European instruments have yet to be implemented, observed Claude Moraes (S&D, UK), who chairs the European Parliament's civil liberties committee. Until now, in the face of terrorist threats, the response by member states has largely been through their criminal justice systems, for example, imprisonment or removals of passports and preventing people from leaving or re-entering the country. There would appear to have been less reflection on how to rehabilitate those who are being held in prison and even on possible alternative sanctions to imprisonment for those whose offence is less serious than belonging to a terrorist organisation. Those returning from abroad should not be considered to be extremists all their lives, the Commission suggested in a memorandum. In Belgium, “we aren't in the front line”, conceded Justice Minister Koen Geens, indicating that his country was beginning to look to the rehabilitation centres for returning foreign fighters that Denmark had set up. Ministers also drew attention to all that was required to support those who have been radicalised, including in terms of staff, though many acknowledged that there was no single answer to this issue, indeed that there was “no really satisfactory” answer, Taubira stated.
The meeting was also due to focus on tackling hate speech and propaganda online, with the Commission about, on 3 December, to launch an internet forum with suppliers and representatives of social networks to discuss ways of countering terrorist indoctrination. Since July, the Frontex agency has also had a special unit tracking websites and removing illegal content. The problem here is, of course, how far it is possible to go without infringing the principle of freedom of expression.
Parliament vote. On Monday 19 October, Parliament's civil liberties committee was due to adopt a report by Rachida Dati (EPP, France) on preventing radicalisation. The report lays emphasis on prevention policies, in particular: having a counter-discourse online; making internet giants criminally responsible for the removal of illegal online content; segregating radicalised prisoners from other inmates to prevent recruitment; training prison staff in recognising radical behaviour; engaging in dialogue with the various religious communities; preventing radicalisation through education; tacking the financing of terrorism and, for this, demanding greater transparency in external financial flows, said Dati. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)