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Workshop “Misinformation and disinformation by state and non-state actors”

On 14 June, the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies organised the workshop Misinformation and disinformation by state and non-state actors, which brought together representatives of EU member states, researchers and high-level experts in the digital world. The main objective of this workshop, presented by Javier Ruipérez, Director of the Euro-Arab Foundation’s Research and Projects Department, and Eva Jiménez, from RAN Policy Support, was to address and mitigate the effects of disinformation and the influence of external actors with malicious intentions in the European Union, as well as to analyse current trends and threats and identify the main actors involved and understand their methods, highlighting disinformation campaigns and hybrid strategies.

Daniel Pérez García, Euro-Arab researcher, moderated the session on how to increase resilience in the face of false information and misinformation. In the European context, the prevalence of both misinformation, i.e. false or inaccurate information spread without malicious intent, often as a result of rumours, misunderstandings or mistakes (El Mikati, et al.), and disinformation, the deliberate creation and dissemination of false information to mislead and manipulate the public (Torres-Soriano), has increased significantly in recent years, exacerbated by various factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts and the rise of new anti-system movements.

This turbulent environment has also seen the growth of conspiracy theories and the influence of external actors engaged in Sharp power actions that exploit digital platforms to carry out operations aimed at destabilising European democracies,

Facing disinformation with digital education and critical thinking

The workshop highlighted the intricate ways in which disinformation campaigns undermine democratic processes and sow social discord. Examples of state-sponsored disinformation were presented, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated responses to protect democratic integrity. Similarly, building resilience to disinformation promoting radical narratives was further explored, underlining the importance of a holistic, society-wide approach involving various sectors, including government, civil society and citizens.

Discussions underlined the importance of digital education, critical thinking skills, security and social cohesion measures at the local level to empower societies to identify and effectively combat disinformation. Particular attention was paid to the benefits of integrating emotional governance strategies to better manage the current poly-crisis, highlighting the importance of addressing emotions and public perceptions in crisis management strategies. Overall, the workshop underlined the imperative of collective action and innovative strategies to strengthen societies against the disruptive effects of disinformation in the European Union and its member states.

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News Projects Rebel EN

ReBel, a new project that will foster solidarity and promote a sense of belonging among migrant women

This Tuesday took place the official online launch of the ReBel (Redesign Belonging) project, which aims to address the challenges of our society related to solidarity and a sense of belonging by providing a co-creation model that fosters belonging and empowers migrant women who have been in host countries for more than five years. They will be the cornerstone and will collaborate with professional designers to create models and solutions for different contexts in the project’s development countries: Spain, Finland and the Netherlands.

ReBel has a duration of 20 months and is co-financed with 411,455 euros from the European Commission in the framework of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) and will be coordinated by the Finnish university Laurea of Applied Sciences. Together with Laurea, the project consortium includes the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Education (Spain), the international organisation What Design Can Do (The Netherlands) and the VISIO training centre (Finland). The Euro-Arab Foundation will be responsible for carrying out the research and benchmarking part of local, national and international projects focusing on migrant belonging. The results will be used to develop a survey to elicit migrants’ experiences and feelings of belonging.

Spain to host a meeting of migrant women

Euro-Arab will be in charge of the activities in Spain, which will take place in parallel in the other countries involved, bringing together migrant women with local citizens, NGO representatives, local and regional authorities, in workshops where open dialogue between the groups will be promoted. Migrants will be able to present the obstacles they faced, and continue to face, in integrating into the host society, as well as their resilience strategies. NGOs will also have the opportunity to talk about their experiences with regard to employment, education, hate crimes or xenophobia.

These workshops will then be used to develop improvements that both authorities and NGOs can implement in their day-to-day work. In order to involve policy makers, Euro-Arab will organise a roundtable in Spain, which will also include members of the European Commission. The researchers will draft three policy briefs per country which will be made public and translated into the main languages of migrants to ensure their accessibility.

Upcoming events

On 5 July, WDCD will organise an event in Amsterdam where the project will be presented and in September the official presentation in hybrid format (face-to-face and online) will take place in Finland.

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EUKH EN News RADICALIZACION EN

The Euro-Arab Foundation will be part of the EU’s new knowledge hub to prevent radicalisation

The European Commission has just consolidated one of the most complex projects in the field of prevention of radicalisation, the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation, which was presented this morning at an event in Brussels. The contract, awarded to a consortium of eleven European entities, including the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (based in Granada), has a duration of four years and is funded to the tune of 60 million euros. The aim of this centre, which takes over from the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN), is to create a platform that produces, compiles and disseminates knowledge and effective practices in the field of radicalisation prevention, both for EU member states and for third countries that are involved. 

Main actors and partners of the EU Knowledge Hub

The executive secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez Ortega, expressed “great satisfaction” at seeing how “the process we started working on more than ten years ago is now enshrined with a much more holistic vision, capable of anticipating the perpetration of violent actions and making use of new online tools”.

The initiative will be led by the Danish NTU International, and the consortium includes the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (Spain), Innovative Prison Systems-IPS (Portugal), the Polish Platform for Homeland Security, the Centre for Security Studies (Greece), the Hellenic Ministry of Citizen Protection, the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, the European Research and Project Office-GmbH (Greece), the Deep Blue Research Centre (Italy), the European Centre for Studies and Initiatives (Italy) and the Romanian National Intelligence Academy Mihai Viteazul.

Activities and services of the EU Knowledge Hub

“This project is based on full respect for diversity and fundamental rights,” says the Euro-Arab Executive Secretary. “From our experience with international cooperation and the ties that unite us with the Arab world, we will work to address the internal security priorities of these third countries in complete synergy and collaboration with European needs, without forgetting the importance of communication and the dissemination of knowledge,” adds Sánchez.

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We participate in the round table on Islamophobia organised by the Qatari government in Doha

The Deputy Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, Bárbara Boloix Gallardo, is travelling to Doha to participate in the roundtable ‘Combating Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism: New Grounds for Understanding and Policy’, a conference that will take place on 9-10 June in the Qatari capital and has been organised by the Department of Policy Planning of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The conference will be divided into six sessions, with the first and second sessions exploring current narratives of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and questioning how they should be addressed. The third session will address the challenges facing the media in the fight against racism.

The second day of the conference will open with the fourth session dedicated to the opportunities and perspectives of the fight against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in history, art, society and culture, where the Deputy Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Arabist and Doctor in the History of Al-Andalus from the University of Granada, will speak.

This will be followed by the fifth session, which will address the intersection between Islamophobia and anti-Semitism from geopolitical and historical perspectives, and will end with a concluding debate that will explore new joint approaches and the way forward.