NSPCC
The NSPCC takes a particular focus towards protecting and supporting children that are at risk of CVE and radicalisation. The charity recognises that children are vulnerable individuals that are most at risk of becoming radicalised or holding extremist ideologies. The websites advice page is aimed towards an adult audience, discussing the difficulties of recognising extremist views that may be perceived as dangerous. The do add that these indicators may be misunderstood and resemble similarities to the typical behaviours of young people, which adds to the difficulty of its recognition. To aid adults in this situation, the website includes a list of indicators that can be used to frame understandings: · Isolating themselves from family and social spheres · Reciting 'scripted' narratives · Lack of willing to discuss their personal ideologies · A negative or disrespectful attitude towards others · Increased levels of anger · Increased secretiveness, particularly around internet use The indicators presented can be understood within three categories; platforms for extremist dissemination, individual (micro) indicators and social (meso) indicators which together can intertwine to better understand CVE and radicalisation cases with children. Using the internet is a notable platform for children to be targeted by extremist groups using propaganda through websites, forums, pages and individual ambassadors. Their influence online is amplified due to globalisation, the increased number of children using the internet at younger ages and the lack of policing. When children become exposed to extremist values there are intrinsic and extrinsic consequences that are listed by the NSPCC. On an individual (micro) level, the reshaping of children's narratives to an 'us against them' mentality can cause their emotional responses to modern ideologies to become negatively affected including anger, secretively and disrespectfulness. These individual changes can have a rippling effect on the child's social interactions. This can include marginalisation from social groups, which this isolation can cause further entanglement within extremism groups. Combined the NSPCC highlights a set of indicators which explains the different levels of child radicalisation and the detrimental effects it can have on a personal and social level. It also includes advice to adults on how to correctly respond to the event that a child has become at risk of being exposed to extremism. In all the charity provides a soft approach to dealing with children and extremism by recognising the sensitivity of extremism and the detrimental effects it can have on children.
Oasis UK
Oasis is a global Christian charity that focuses on aiding vulnerable young people through a number of projects and research. The organisation takes a clear stance from the UK’s current pursue strategy, noting that the current methodologies are not effective in tackling radicalisation and CVE. Their approach focuses on creating a change in public understandings of what the government currently labels ‘radicalisation’ as and its indicators. Research conducted by Oasis concluded that indicators such as deprivation, family and poor mental health are more reminiscent in increasing the vulnerability of young people to radicalisation and CVE, as the current stereotypes of religion and ideologies. The charity has called for a change in public recognition of the indicators, and by doing so will create a softer approach to tackling terrorism away from current strategies of ‘arresting’ the way out of radicalisation and extremism. The organisation works with 36 communities with members that are vulnerable to radicalisation and CVE with the overall aim to increasing resilience through bringing communities together. The charities approach links closer to the UK’s current prevent strategy by working at grass root levels to create social change. The approach includes: · Integrated community sports projects: These projects includes ‘football for life’, which builds teams and cohesion between young people. The aim is to incorporate marginalised young people through sport. · Anti-gang work: Charity workers visit young people that have been omitted into A&E through gang related injuries. At a grass root level this project is helping to diminish the ‘us versus them’ mentality and reintegrate the children back into society with a positive reflection towards society. · Adult education: The charity hosts adult education lessons that teaches young adults the fundamental skills that will aid them in employment and further integration into society. · Inspire programme: This project aims to work with young people to reshape their values into a positive narrative using peace initiatives and conflict resolutions. The project framework for Oasis reflects a predominant focus on the rehabilitation of young people at a grass root level. As a charity it represents a rise in softer approaches to radicalisation and CVE away from current governmental strategies.
Educate Against Hate
Educate Against Hate is a charity that works with influencing figures in family and education sectors to give practical advice and resources to effectively protect children from CVE and radicalisation. The website reflects the companies recognition that young people are vulnerable to being exposed to extremist ideologies due to their tendencies to take risks and explore information about identity, faith and belonging. In particular the charity notes how the internet and social media is being manipulated by extremist groups to disseminate propaganda upon. The website highlights three points of focus that their information is directed towards: teachers, parents and school leaders. For teachers the website includes a number of resources including Q&A’s for common questions, and a number of toolkits to be used within the classroom. An example is the ‘Faith in us’ which educates young people in Primary and Secondary schools about Islamophobia, the detrimental effects it can have on young people and how it can be prevented, and ‘ACT for Youth’ which is an animated film that instructs young people how to respond if they are present during a terrorist incident to be played in PSHCE lessons. The parent's subcategory predominately concerns how to talk to young people about terrorism as it is increasingly portrayed within the media. The site includes links to resources such as ‘Let’s Talk About It’ and ‘Talking to your teenager about radicalisation’ that provides additional information about interacting with children effectively to increase understanding, specifically with the latter talking to young people with autism. For school leaders, the website focuses on providing resources that promote a ‘whole school approach’ focusing on respect and discipline within the educational sphere. In all, Educate Against Hate aims to provide resources that educate the next generation of young people how to prevent CVE and radicalisation through a triangulation approach of soft and hard prevent methods. Changing the mentality of young people to understanding terrorism is a particular theme that runs through the resources provided, which in doing so may build resilience and improve the overall public understanding of terrorism that can have a positive effect on current strategies and approaches.
Active Change Foundation
The Foundation focuses on helping young people and wider communities with the aim of educating on how young people can safeguard themselves to create a safer future for current society and the next generation. Terrorism is a factor that the charity believes their aims will help to tackle, using a number of methods to improve the effectiveness. The charity has created a one-day extremism training event to educate trainees on how to notice signs and protect vulnerable young people. The training highlights the dynamicity of terrorism and the crucial need to keep up to date with contemporary indicators, recruitment methods and narratives. On a separate strand the charity labels and recognises mental health as an indicator that can significantly make an individual increasingly at risk of becoming exposed to extremism. To help protect individuals with poor mental health the charity has the resource ‘Emotional Logic’ which teaches influential individuals how they can help to improve the mental wellbeing of young people and reduce their perceived risk. The charity also tackles the online aspects of CVE and radicalisation, through preventing the dissemination of propaganda online. The website includes an online reporting resource that allows users to report extremist content. Overall the charity provides a set of resources that aids the integration of young people into society through improving their mental health, safeguarding and integration into society. To demonstrate the effectiveness of their methods the charity has outlined a number of cases which reflects the impact their work has on the cohesion of young people with society. The charity has worked with families of the suspects that were affected by the Waltham Forest airline terrorist plot, whose victim status was removed and they were marginalised from society with the aim of reintegrating them back into and regaining trust with society. In a particular case they developed a multi-agency approach to help move a family that was at direct risk. Similarly the charity has helped to reintegrate prisoners that have been arrested for terrorism and extremism offences back into society, highlighting one case of a prisoner that used their expertise and knowledge to assist the charity in educating others. The cases discussed reflects the charities beliefs in rehabilitation and reintegration as key to tackling CVE and radicalisation. The support provided focuses on steering the mindset of young people onto a positive pathway and challenging the current grievances that may influence young people’s ideologies.
Runaway Helpline
"CVE and radicalisation is a large influence for the number of individuals that run away from home, and hence is discussed thoroughly by the charity as a factor that needs to be tackled effectively to reduce this. The website discusses how individuals beliefs can be exploited by extremist groups that can force them to carry out goals that can put the individual and others at risk. They aim to tackle CVE and radicalisation by outlining the push and pull factors that may encourage individuals at risk of running away to join an extremist group aware of the relevant risks of their actions to themselves and their family. Push factors include low life satisfaction, marginalisation and looking for something to believe in, social isolation and wanting to have their voice heard. Adjacent to these factors pull indicators included online propaganda and the opportunity to be a part of a group. Alongside highlighting the relevant indicators the charity discusses the negative implications of leaving to join an extremist group, outlining that many runaways regret their decision and are unable to return home thus remaining in significant danger. To emphasise their advice and information the Runaway Helpline website includes a number of videos from law enforcement and non-governmental organisations to discuss real-life experiences. · Law enforcement: The video focuses on the risks presented to women and girls travelling to Syria outlining the risks and danger that joining extremist groups puts themselves and their children in. From real-life examples the video discusses how women and girls are treated in a degrading manner by terrorist organisations including forced marriages and slavery, which falls far from the promises they were given prior to their arrival. The video provides a link to ‘PreventTragedies’- a police funded programme which works with families in highlighting the signs to recognise women and girls that are at risk of joining extremist groups and to give these families the confidence to discuss their concerns with support staff. · ‘OpenYourEyes’: This project is aimed at individuals at risk of joining ISIS, and contains videos in which Muslims give advice and support to other Muslims. The advice given outlines the differences between Islam and extremism ideologies that ISIS relays and how the extremist group falsely names itself as an organisation that promotes ‘Muslim’ values. The Runaway Helpline focuses on the individuals at risk of joining extremist groups, and works closely with these individuals through the helpline using a soft approach of preventing them from making dangerous decisions for themselves and their family.
Stand for Peace
Stand for Peace is an interfaith organisation that compiles of Jewish and Muslim members. The charity works with journalists, policymakers, academics, politicians and anti-racism activists, and incorporates their ideas into thinktanks, reports and research. The aim of the findings is to provide a comprehensive list of all religious, political extremism cases that threatens equality, liberty and democratic values in the UK. In producing this list the charity hopes to facilitate rational discussions about what drives apart Muslim and Jewish communities to fight violence and challenge extremism that manifests in Britain. To aid these challenges the charity has four approaches: · Preventing violent and nonviolent forms of extremism through education and awareness raising for the benefit of society. · Promoting religious harmony to improve social cohesion through educating the public in different religious beliefs and their distinctive features to promote positive relations between different faiths. Whilst simultaneously promoting knowledge and mutual understanding of beliefs of different religious faiths. · Advocating for social equality and diversity through: eliminating marginalisation on the grounds of race or religion, raising awareness and facilitating a cultural shift in favour of social equality and diversity, conducting research on equality and diversity. · Promoting public support for Human Rights in adherence with the Human Rights Convention. The website incorporates up to date news articles under a number of categories relating to extremist groups to aid public understanding on benign networks including Christian extremism and the Iran network. The corresponding categories contains information about: Syrian charities supporting vulnerable societies, reports focusing on CVE and radicalisation, and a piece on ‘The Real Islamophobia’ which discusses contemporary challenges surrounding Islamophobia as a form of prejudice and how it is used by Western society as a term which trivialises genuine anti-Muslim violence. As a whole the charity focuses on public benefit by improving recognition and cohesion of different faiths to tackle the manifestation of extremist groups.
Peace Direct
"Peace direct is a charity that sets up a number of peacebuilders who work with communities using non-violent approach to tackle violent extremism on an international scale. The charity also supports and funds local organisations that are working to tackle CVE and radicalisation in local communities, and display an emphasis in the need of supporting volunteers in middle Eastern countries due to the elevated risk of being put into a compromising and dangerous situation if their efforts become known to militant groups. Therefore the aim of Peace Direct is to ensure that activists are well supported on an international scale to aid the influential efforts their work is doing in helping individuals at risk of recruitment to turn away from violence. The charity was developed in the aftermath of what they labelled as the ‘world awakening’ to the severe problems of CVE and radicalisation, due to their belief that middle Eastern countries can have a positive effect in tackling contemporary concerns and issues on an international scale. The information that countries such as Syria and Pakistan hold includes using alternative perspectives of non-violent methods in tackling children at risk of being exposed to extremism. The charity takes a particular focus on children that are most at risk of becoming weapons of war in middle Eastern countries due to being surrounded by militant messages. Alongside this indicator other factors included poverty, instability and lack of practical alternatives that could make an individual at risk of becoming recruited. The website highlights two key communities that the charity supports through their methods. Peace Direct’s primary focus is on advocacy, achieved through funding charities that are working to reduce militarised approaches and supporting non-violent approaches to preventing and addressing CVE and radicalisation: · Pakistan: Peace Direct funds and supports a partner charity called ‘Aware Girls’, which has a number of young volunteers working to save children from indoctrination and radicalisation. The volunteers work in villages, towns and schools to identify and dissuade young people at most risk through intensive and personalised methods. · Somalia: SADO is a local charity funded by Peace Direct which aims to re-integrate young people at risk of recruitment into society through teaching essential employment skills such as mechanical, electrical and tailoring skills. The aim of education is to show young people that there is an alternative life to violence. Coinciding their work with young people Peace Direct has developed a strong support structure for women of war. They argue that women are most affected by conflict, often becoming widows, targets of sexual violence, and losing their children which in most cases leaves them without any support. The charity views women as strong facilitators in the fight for peace and social cohesion, being in many cases the heads of household, conservers of the community and rebuilders of the economy. When working with local communities to stop violence, Peace Direct has supported women internationally to claim their rights, gain access to fair justice, vote, build small businesses, and learn skills to earn an income. More specifically they have funded two local organisations in DR Congo that help women affected by war to improve their inclusion into society and participation. Through these methods the charity aims to transform the idea of women as victims to pioneers of peace in their communities.
Care
CARE is the acronym for Christian Action Research and Education, a Christian charity that seeks to uphold social cohesion by supporting vulnerable individuals in society. Their vision is outlined as aiming to reshape a society that has a greater regard for human dignity and improves the current effectiveness of public policy, media and local practitioner involvement with vulnerable people. The charity is achieving this goal through engaging with politicians, UK Parliaments and Assemblies and promotes Christian community-based initiatives to aid the national community. More specifically the charity highlights a number of actions they are taking to tackle CVE and radicalisation in the UK. They highlight contemporary social and moral concerns of public policy and education, encourage vulnerable individuals to become involved in Christian values and ideologies as a form of re-integration, facilitate a cultural shift in recognising the dignity and worth in all individuals, and promote community-based initiatives that supports social cohesion. Different to other charities, CARE also has developed a postgraduate CARE Leadership Programme that encourages young people to become more invested in tackling CVE and radicalisation. The CARE website has highlighted several UK-wide initiatives they current have that are tackling CVE and radicalisation in society: · Churches: CARE builds upon the Christian community through local churches, which are key partners in facilitating individuals to campaign on contemporary issues and encourage church members to join in political parties and discussions. The charity has developed CARE for the Future, which aims to inspire and encourage individuals through seminars discussing terrorism within churches across the UK. · The Leadership Programme: As discussed previously the postgraduate programme encourages Christian graduates to become involved in jobs that will benefit society including voluntary placements within public spheres. These methods represent a community based approach, with a focus on educating young people who represent the next generation of individuals tackling CVE and radicalisation on an international level.
ADAB
ADAB (1997) is a charity formed in Bury that works with key stakeholders in local communities to develop and implement initiatives that improves the economic, social, recreational and cultural conditions of people from ethnic minority communities. The initiatives created by ADAB aim to help these individuals to: acquire the skills, knowledge and confidence to seek employment, improve social cohesion, encourage greater involvement in the community. A particular focus of the initiative is supporting young people that are at risk of disengaging from education, employment or training and becoming exposed to CVE or radicalisation. In preventing the dissemination of extremism in Bury, with support of the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner’s Fund ADAB has set up the Preventing Extremism Creating Tolerance (PECT) project. The project is an early intervention, community led action plan that works at a grass root level to fill the current gap in the UK in recognising the early signs of radicalisation amongst young people before they escalate. The project takes a multi-agency approach that involves schools, parents, voluntary groups, law enforcement and local religious institutions. PECT particularly works within schools, working with students through interventions which aim to develop self esteem, reduce isolation, create positive peer influences, address health and wellbeing needs, and foster social and economic independence. The project also works with teachers by educating staff around the extremism as a contemporary agenda, how to challenge individuals exhibiting set indicators and informing them on the support that is available at different stages. Through its initiatives and projects, ADAB aims to break down the barriers of integration that ethnic minority groups may face in the UK, that prevents them from becoming integrated within the education, training, volunteering and employment spheres.
Open Your Eyes
OpenYourEyes is a Muslim Charity that aims to expose the truths about ISIS through a video platform that covers the realities of the Muslim faith, and the dangers of joining the extremist group. As a secondary purpose the movement aims to close the gap between the Muslim and other communities, to aid social cohesion and end the current stereotyping and links between ISIS and Islam within the UK media. By producing these videos the charity hopes to challenge current global understandings of Islam and show their contributions towards fighting CVE and radicalisation methods used by ISIS. The charity uses the internet as a global platform to publish their videos that cover a number of filters including ‘life under ISIS’, ‘life as a girl in ISIS’ and ‘joining ISIS’. OpenYourEyes works closely with young people, activists and filmmakers in producing videos that reflect on the opposition to ISIS and the organisations values. Narrating the videos are Muslim volunteers including victims that have experienced the actions of ISIS themselves or activists that are wanting to spread the proper values that Islam and how ISIS largely differs from the religion. The charity works closely with schools and Muslim communities by premiering their videos to young people who are deemed most vulnerable to being recruited.
Syria Relief
Syria Relief was launched in Manchester following the Syrian crisis in 2011, and has become the largest Syria-focused UK based charity that aims to relieve the suffering of Syrian members and support their futures. Their vision is to create a society where Syrian members can live in dignity and security with the means and opportunities to achieve their aspirations, wherever they are internationally. Syria Reliefs website includes several values that lay within its framework: humanitarian principles, accountability and transparency, respect, integrity, and ambition and creativity. Combined these values are incorporated into the charities methodology, to ensure they are tackling CVE and radicalisation as effective as possible. The charity has six programme areas that it focuses its efforts and values upon: · Education: the education sphere is regarded as a fundamental programme that will help Syrians to rebuild their lives and community. The charity sponsors 55 schools which educates 16,000 children in total including children with learning difficulties. Within these schools Syria Relief runs 31 Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) which provides vulnerable children with psychological support, protection and first aid. · Food: Due to the decrease in crop production the need for food support in Syria has increased. Syria Relief provides food parcels to war-torn areas to increase morale, and prevent the number of members joining extremist groups due to lack of food. · Medical Aid: The ongoing crisis in Syria has caused a near-total destruction of the healthcare sphere. To address these problems the charity has developed a Medical Aid Programme which provides emergency care to victims of conflict and chronic illnesses. It also covers vaccinations and mental health support. · Non-food Items: Provides shelter, winter kits and gifts to vulnerable families that have been made homeless by conflict. · Orphan support: Many children that are born into conflict are subject to severe deprivation and exploitation such as child labour, early marriage, and other activities. In addition many of these children become orphans in Syria. The organisation provides an orphan sponsorship package which provides these children with their essential needs: clothing, healthcare, food and education. This package is a method used on behalf of the charities vision to support orphans in their normal or extended family environment, including supporting the guardians that are looking after the orphaned children. · Water and Sanitation: The charity highlights how conflicts in Syria has negatively affected the water supply systems. To solve this issue Syria Relief has rebuilt and repaired water supply systems across Syria, and has trained members of the local communities how to fix these repairs in the future. The values and methods of the Syria Relief charity provides a grassroot support system to Syrian nationals who are most at risk of being exposed to CVE and radicalisation. Their methods have contributed towards the social cohesion of Syrian nations, and their confidence in rebuilding their communities.
Internet Matters
Internet matters is a non-profit organisation supported by UK technologies such as BT and Sky, and is labelled as one of the leading child online safety experts in the UK. Internet Matters helps parents to understand CVE and radicalisation in the age of global technology, and provides information to help them understand how the methodologies used by extremist groups has changed within online platforms. The organisations aim is to empower and educate parents and carers in keeping children safe within the digital world and how to manage the risks presented in contemporary society. The charity discusses contemporary issues surrounding the internet, particularly in how extremist groups are using the platform to disseminate CVE propaganda. Internet Matters adopts a multi-agency approach working with the technological industry, government and schools to reach UK families with tips and resources that can benefit children using the internet. They also work closely alongside policymakers across the political sphere in sharing their ideas and responding to Departmental and Select Committee Inquiries into areas of interest through presenting their insights and impact of work. They believe that children are at the forefront of this content due to their increased use of the internet and social media platforms and curiosity of diverse social values. Internet Matters discusses a number of ways that a young person may become exposed to CVE and radicalisation online. The push factors include increased level of curiosity and risky behaviours of young people can lead them to seeking out more radical ideals, and the efforts of extremist members to befriend children online to encourage them to adopt extremist values. Social media is of particular focus, with sites such as Facebook and Twitter being named as platforms used by extremist groups to search for, identify, target and contact young people and move the conversations to less monitored sites such as Kik and Whisper. Following this information the website includes a set of indicators which can aid parents in recognising children at risk: · The young person believes their religion, culture or beliefs are under threat and treated unjustly by society. · They search for conspiracy theories online and present a clear distrust in mainstream media. · They suffer from social isolation and the need for identity and belonging. · They have become secretive about their online footprint and interactions. If a parent recognises these symptoms the website provides a ‘talk about it’ and deal with it’ page that is aimed at helping parents to prevent the child from becoming radicalised at a low level of concern. The website also contains toolkits to aid parents understanding of CVE and radicalisation in contemporary society. Through this information and guidance Internet Matters provides parents with a contemporary understanding in tackling CVE and radicalisation cases in the age of the internet and social media, alongside using prevent strategies to aid the fight against extremism.