Dr. Katarzyna Sidło at the the EuroMeSCo Youth Forum: New approach to working with families of radicalize youth
On May 31, CASE's political economist Dr. Katarzyna W. Sidło participated in the first EuroMeSCo Youth Forum on “Youth to Youth: How to Tackle Radicalisation of Young People”. Dr. Sidło presented her research "Beyond signposting. New approach to working with families of radicalize youth". The first EuroMeSCo Forum was held in the framework of the EuroMeSCo Annual Conference “Confronting Violent Extremism in the Euro-Mediterranean” in Barcelona. Bringing together young researchers from EuroMeSCo think tanks and policy makers and practitioners, the aim of the Forum was to exchange views on research strands and initiatives taken to counter youth radicalisation in the countries from the Euro-Mediterranean region.
In her presentation, Dr. Sidło disscused the Families for Life counselling service, offering advice and support to relatives and friends of young people affected by radicalization. Families for Life was founded in Birmingham, UK, in 2016 by Nicola Benyahia after she found out her own son died in Syria as one of Daesh (or so-called Islamic State) solders at the age of 19. The organization was chosen as an example of a grassroots approach to both prevention of radicalization and de-radicalization. It offers counselling and training to families and peers who suspect their loved one might be showing signs of radicalization, as well as guidelines on dealing with radicalization’s aftermath.
The experiences gained from the counselling service's work allow for preparing an initial list of lessons learned and drafting recommendations that could be useful for (de)radicalization scholars and practitioners alike.
According to Dr. Sidło's findings, it takes a lot of time for families who suspect their loved one is becoming or has already become radicalized to trust anyone and share their suspicions. Weary of being branded “a terrorist family” and ostracized from the community, the families need a safe space where they can talk with sympathetic professionals, without necessarily immediately triggering a police investigation and while remaining anonymous. The fear of being turned into national and/or local sensation has also been flagged as a major issue. Related to the problems with gaining trust outlined above is the sustainability issue. As in order to remain trustworthy in the eyes of its potential clients, the organization needs to stay independent from the government (of whom a lot of communities in risk of radicalization is highly sceptical) it needs to acquire funding from other sources.
The relationship with the government cannot therefore be based on the financial transfers, neither can it boil down to transferring information acquired from the families to the authorities (which would again in loosing clients’ trust). At the same time, though, the most crucial pieces of information regarding radicalized persons necessarily need to be passed on to the authorities. Developing a healthy relationship between organizations like Families for Life and the authorities is therefore another challenge both sides must face.
