PARTICIPATION PROJECT: France´s secondary CVE intervention

Secondary prevention to violent radicalisation consists of interventions for people showing first signs of radicalisation. These vulnerable individuals are still in the pre-criminal space – namely, they did not engage in violence yet (RAN, 2018).

Therefore, in CIPDR’s plan of action, tools and means of secondary intervention represent the intermediate mechanism to avoid radicalisation to escalate into violence. For the process of detection and early management to be effective, various actors and entities, both institutional and non-institutional at national, regional and local level, are involved. However, it should be stressed that the management of individuals demonstrating first signs of radicalisation is a socially sensitive and delicate phase. Indeed, should the intervention be mishandled, the result could be further radicalisation. For this reason, secondary prevention is highly controversial. The triggering mechanism for secondary intervention to come into action is the reporting by any individual concerned of first signs of radicalisation of a closed person – a family member, a neighbor, a friend, a teacher, a colleague, a doctor, a civil society educator, a sport trainer exc (Signaler et Détecter, CIPDR).

Any reporting can be done by contacting the National Centre for Assistance and Prevention of Radicalization (Centre national d’assistance e de prevention de la radicalisation – CNAPR), either filling an online form or calling the emergency phone number, or by calling the police station. If first signs of radicalisation are confirmed at the end of the first interview, the CNAPR transmits the gathered data to the concerned department where the radicalising or radicalised individual lives. At department level, there are three operational and coordinated units that take over the responsibility of the radicalised individual to “deactivate” the process of radicalisation. The first 67 entity at local level is Security Headquarters (EMS), which comprises an ad-hoc evaluation cell to assess cases of radicalisation based on their seriousness.

The second structure is the Department Cell for the Support of Prevention of Radicalisation and the Assistance of Families (cellule départementale de suivi pour la prévention de la radicalisation et l’accompagnement des familles – CPRAF), charged of supporting both the radicalised person and his/her family in order to facilitate the process of disengagement. The third structure (more focused on Islamist violent radicalisation) is the Department Cell for the fight against Islamism and Communitarian Attitude5 (cellule départementale de “lutte contre l’islamisme et le repli Communautaire – CLIR) that is charged of the diagnosis of the process of Islamist radicalisation of reported individuals (Les partenaires du terrain du CIPDR, CIPDR). All these structures charged with the evaluation of radicalising or radicalised individuals were established in April 2014 and since then, 72000 reporting calls have been collected.

Among these, less than 6000 were declared as violent radicalised individuals (Signaler et détecter, CIPDR). Therefore, if reported individuals are defined as radicalising or radicalised individuals, early management mechanisms are activated. Programs of early management of radicalised individuals seek to disengage radicalising individuals and to reintegrate them in society (Prendre en charge et accompagner, CIPDR).

This process focuses first and foremost on the driving causes that lead to radicalisation and, for this reason, various institutional and non-institutional actors are involved. Indeed, for disengagement and reintegration to be effective, social, educational, medical and psychological support is provided, and, should it be necessary, religious referents, social assistance to children, youth judicial protection and services of probation might be involved. These wide range of services are implemented by the CPRAF at department level in order to assure a quick and more embedded intervention. The CPRAF involves public services and associations – such as the MDA, the FNEPE and the UNAF – and the SG-CIPDR has created a national cell for the coordination and the support of territorial activities of prefects, territorial authorities and other actors involved.

Moreover, the Department Evaluation Groups (Groupes d’Évaluation Territoriale – GED) monitor that the process of detection and early management is carried out in compliance with these steps (Dispositif Territorial de prevention de la radicalisation violente). Since the establishment of this early management mechanism in 2014, the CPRAF have supported 6300 individuals (5000 of whom were under 25) and 2300 families (Prendre en charge et accompagner, CIPDR).