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The Euro-Arab Foundation welcomes an Uzbek delegation to discuss religious coexistence and the prevention of radicalisation

On Friday, 11 September, the Euro-Arab Foundation welcomed to its headquarters an Uzbek delegation led by Muzaffar Kamilov, Adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Religious and Educational Affairs and Rector of the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan. He was accompanied by the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain, as well as the Deputy Chairman of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Project Manager of the EU–UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), and the Officer-in-Charge of the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Section of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT).

The visit to the Euro-Arab Foundation is one of three study visits scheduled by the delegation in Europe, following earlier visits to Sweden and Belgium, and was carried out as part of UNOCT’s ongoing support to the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan in developing the institutional concept and operating model for a specialised Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) Centre within the Academy. The Euro-Arab Foundation operates as an academic and intercultural research platform, making its experience particularly relevant for exploring how research is translated into practical prevention, education, strategic communications and community engagement, with a view to identifying approaches that may be relevant and adaptable to the context of Uzbekistan.

During the visit, the delegation met with the Executive Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez, who showed them the facilities and explained the work of the institution; with Isabel Pérez, Communications Director of the Euro-Arab Foundation, who detailed the Foundation’s active participation in the European Commission’s EU Knowledge Hub project, where they lead the Communications and Strategic Communications portfolios; and with José María González, Deputy Director of Projects at the Foundation, who elaborated on the institution’s areas of research specialisation. The meeting also included José Luis Salido, Project Coordinator, and Rascha Albaba, Researcher, both involved in projects on the protection of places of worship and combating hate speech.

The exchange covered eight thematic areas: the Foundation’s academic and applied institutional model, its positioning and comparative advantage between academia, policy and practice; the priorities, methods and quality of research on radicalization and violent extremism; the translation of findings into policies, programmes and prevention tools; strategic communications and the design of evidence-based prevention narratives; education and training for students, educators and practitioners; intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the strengthening of community resilience; the integration of human rights, gender equality and ethical safeguards; and, finally, partnerships, international cooperation and the institutional and financial sustainability of research and prevention work, with a view to possible future exchange between the Foundation and the Academy.

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News Projects

The Euro-Arab in the XVIII Congress of the Spanish Association of Political Science and Administration

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies took part in the XVIII Congress of the Spanish Association of Political Science and Administration (AECPA), held on September 9 and 10, 2026, through the participation of three members of its team, who each presented papers within different Working Groups of the congress.

José María González Riera, Deputy Director of Research and Projects at the Euro-Arab Foundation, presented the paper “Judicial Reform in Morocco: Constitutionalization of the IER’s Recommendations and Legislative Development” on Wednesday, September 9. The paper analyses the constitutional reform mandate set out in Morocco’s 2011 Constitution, inspired by the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), and examines the subsequent process of constitutionalization and legislative development of judicial reform, assessing the actual degree to which those recommendations have been incorporated into the Moroccan legal system. The paper was presented within Working Group 11, “Legislative Transformations, Civil Society, and Authoritarianism in the Post-Arab Spring Maghreb.”

José Luis Salido Medina, Projects Coordinator at the Euro-Arab Foundation, presented on Thursday, September 10 the paper “The Spanish Far Right: Analysis Through a Proposed Conceptual Framework,” part of Working Group 6, “The Far Right of the 21st Century: The Genesis of National Populism and the Rise of the Populist Radical Right.” The study proposes an original analytical framework for ideologically classifying the different actors of the Spanish far right, from its most extreme expressions to its radical ones, based on an examination of political platforms, audiovisual content, and parties’ official websites.

Javier Montilla, a researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation, also presented on Thursday, September 10 the paper “Informational Interference in the Contemporary International System: State of the Art and Analytical Challenges,” in Working Group 4, “World Disorder: New Threats and the Proliferation of Disruptive Actors.” The paper offers a critical review of the strategic use of disinformation as a tool of foreign interference, drawing on analytical frameworks such as hybrid operations, influence operations, and the concept of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), with the aim of identifying conceptual gaps and proposing analytical challenges for its study from the field of International Relations.

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News VANGUARD VANGUARD

Karen Latricia Hough, VANGUARD project’s researcher, contribute to the volumen ‘Learning from Failures in Human Trafficking’

Hough co-authors chapter 9 ‘Re-positioning the Role of Information and Communication Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in the Fight against Human Trafficking’

Karen Latricia Hough, senior researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies currently developing VANGUARD project, has analyzed the importance of information and technological advances—such as artificial intelligence—alongside fellow researchers Theodora Tsikrika, Despoina Chatzakou, Theoni Spathi, and Tatiana Duarte Nicolau.

The article co-authored by Hough, Tsikrika, Chatzakou, Spathi, and Duarte Nicolau constitutes Part III of a publication supervised by Silvia Rodríguez-López, a senior researcher in criminal law at the University of A Coruña, and Amy Weatherburn, an FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the KU Leuven Institute for European Law, specializing in human trafficking, forced labor, migration, and fundamental rights law.

A collection published by the prestigious Routledge, structured around three core pillars

This monograph lays the groundwork for a paradigm shift in the anti-human trafficking literature, identifying where current approaches fall short and how these shortcomings might be addressed. Its approach is accessible and multidisciplinary, bringing together academics and legal practitioners to identify critical gaps in global response systems.

The volume is structured around three foundational pillars. The first part challenges outdated definitions of exploitation, particularly with regard to the criminal exploitation of minors, sex work, and labour trafficking. The second evaluates operational failures in victim identification and protection, drawing on recent, real-world case studies from across different continents, including cross-border drug smuggling in Chile, cyber-scam compounds in Southeast Asia, and the high-profile case of Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court. Finally, the monograph turns to structural failures, highlighting the role of artificial intelligence in the fight against human trafficking, as well as the importance of integrating survivor testimony and lived experience into research, legislative, and policy-making processes.

The ultimate aim is to analyse why past measures have failed and to provide actionable, evidence-based, survivor-centred solutions to redefine future legislation, policy, and practice worldwide.

VOLUME AVAILABLE ONLINE
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News victory

Third VicTory Project Training Course on Restorative Justice, Reparation and Resolution

Researcher Rascha Albaba Acosta, from the Fundación Euroárabe, took part, from 15 to 17 June, in the third and final in-person training of the VicTory project, held in Helsinki.

The event brought to a close the approach developed at the first in-person training, held from 10 to 12 February, with Fundación Euroárabe leading the facilitation together with Ararteko (the Basque Ombudsman’s Office), as well as its continuation from 21 to 23 April, hosted by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee — part of a series of workshops delivered in hybrid format, both online and in person.

A victim-centred programme to prevent revictimisation

The workshop opened with remarks from Margarida Damas of IPS – Innovative Prison Systems, followed by an introduction from Miriam Attias (MAP Finland), Roberto Moreno and Nahikari Borda (Ararteko). Over the course of three days, participants explored approaches to responding to hate incidents, conducting individual interviews through vulnerable listening, and facilitating the collective contribution to the community of testimonies from victims of political violence, through symbolic reparation, memory and transitional justice.

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News VANGUARD VANGUARD

Red Flags: a serious game against child trafficking developed by VANGUARD

Accessible online for all audiences

The VANGUARD project, focused on developing technological solutions against human trafficking, has launched the game ‘Red Flags’, whose development involved the Euro-Arab Foundation in the design and oversight of the content script, a key piece given that it is an interactive, role-based game built around a series of dialogue sequences.

VANGUARD is a highly innovative, interdisciplinary project running over three years, involving a total of twenty-two partners from twelve countries, and backed by €4.5 million in funding. Part of this budget has been allocated to ‘Red Flags’, a serious game that adopts an engaging format prioritizing broad, straightforward accessibility aimed at social and educational professionals as well as parents and adolescents.

The goal is to educate people about one of the most common strategies used to recruit victims: the ‘loverboy’ method and the ‘love bombing’ tactic, which use supposed romantic relationships to attract, persuade, and ultimately subdue those who end up in a situation of risk until they are sexually exploited.

A campaign against the recruitment of minors through social media

The ‘Red Flags’ campaign has been designed for social media with one of the groups at highest risk of being recruited online in mind: adolescents and minors. Using accessible language, an informal style, and a series of short videos shared on the channels that are part of this population segment’s everyday life, ‘Red Flags’ is being introduced to young people in Spanish, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Greek.

LEARN. DETECT. PROTECT.

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EN Interrad EUKH EN News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation Contributes to a Landmark Publication on the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation in the European Union

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies has contributed its research to the newly published volume Policy and Experience in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization in the European Union, a collective work edited by Inmaculada Marrero and Roberto M. Lobato. The book brings together contributions from leading experts in the fields of preventing violent extremism and public policy development across the European Union.

The Euro-Arab Foundation has made a significant contribution to this publication through several members of its research team. The contributing authors include the Foundation’s Executive Secretary, Antonio Sánchez Ortega; Director of Research and Projects, Javier Ruipérez Canales; and researchers Daniel F. Pérez, Paula Cano Cruz, José Luis Salido Medina, and Karen L. Hough.

Policy and Experience in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization in the European Union provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the policies, experiences, and challenges surrounding the prevention of violent radicalisation in the European context. The volume serves as a key reference for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding European responses to radicalisation processes and promoting effective, inclusive preventive approaches that uphold fundamental rights.

The publication is available through Routledge (Taylor & Francis).

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News Projects VIRTUOUS en

VIRTUOUS launches #PlacesOfWorship micro-learning material for religious communities campaign

The VIRTUOUS project, an EU-funded initiative bringing together 21 partners from 11 countries, has launched #PlacesOfWorshipForAll, a communication campaign developed under the lead of Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies as launched #PlacesOfWorshipForAll, a communication campaign developed within the VIRTUOUS project, an EU-funded initiative bringing together 21 partners from 11 countries.

The campaign combines multidisciplinary expertise, interreligious perspectives, the operational experience of Law Enforcement Agencies, including the Police of Madrid, Murcia and Cyprus, and technological innovations in architectural security developed by Yuppies.

#PlacesOfWorshipForAll brings together 15 stakeholder perspectives in a shared commitment to enhancing the safety and peace of mind of all people of faith through interreligious solidarity and multi-agency collaboration.

The campaign features voices from three religious traditions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity (the latter including Evangelical Christianity, Greek Orthodoxy and Catholicism). The religious communities were represented by Massimo Abdellah Cozzolino, Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Rav Scialom Bahbout, Mr Lazaros Sefiha, Mr Rinalds Grants, Fr Christos A. Mitsiou, Fr Stanisław Stelmaszek and Fr Krzysztof Deja. Drawing on their experience as religious leaders and trusted community representatives, the campaign identifies key security challenges faced by places of worship and provides practical guidance to help religious communities strengthen preparedness and resilience.

Beyond prevention, #PlacesOfWorshipForAll also addresses the aftermath of security incidents, highlighting the importance of preserving the openness, accessibility and welcoming nature of places of worship while strengthening protective measures.

The videos are available for public through VIRTUOUS official social media profiles under the name Virtuous project in Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

A campaign guided by security, data protection and ethics

Given the sensitive nature of the subject, the campaign has been developed following strict security, legal and ethical standards.

Within the VIRTUOUS consortium, QUINTUM SCUTUM, the organisation responsible for analysing attack methodologies, has ensured that the materials provide practical and relevant knowledge without compromising the safety of religious communities. At the same time, TECOMS has overseen compliance with data protection requirements and ethical principles throughout the development of the campaign.

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News Projects VANGUARD

The Euro-Arab Foundation Presents VANGUARD’s Intelligence Analysis Conclusions to GRETA

On June 24, researcher Karen Hough, representing the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, presented the conclusions of the VANGUARD Project’s intelligence analysis on human trafficking to the sixteen independent experts of GRETA (Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings). This Council of Europe body is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the matter in Strasbourg.

This presentation is part of the project’s contribution to advancing intelligence-led responses to trafficking across Europe. Drawing on multidisciplinary research, the analysis examined emerging trafficking dynamics, the adaptation of organized crime, and shifting exploitation patterns. The findings provide a strategic evidence base to inform policy development, operational decision-making, victim identification, and the responsible deployment of advanced technological tools to support the prevention, detection, and disruption of trafficking networks in both national and transnational contexts.

A central focus of the presentation was the epistemological and operational value of survivor expertise within intelligence-led responses to human trafficking. Rather than positioning survivors solely as recipients of protection and assistance, the analysis recognized them as critical repositories of knowledge whose lived experiences generate unique forms of intelligence that are often inaccessible through conventional research methods.

Survivor-informed perspectives provide valuable insights into recruitment mechanisms, coercive control, exploitation pathways, barriers to reporting, and institutional responses, strengthening both strategic and operational intelligence. Furthermore, the presentation argued that survivor expertise must be integrated not only into policy and operational practice, but also into the design and monitoring of technologies aimed at combating human trafficking.

The subsequent discussion with GRETA underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration among intelligence professionals, researchers, survivors, law enforcement, civil society, and technology developers. Integrating these perspectives can reinforce early victim identification, enhance intelligence collection and analysis, support responsible technological innovation, and optimize the disruption of organized trafficking networks, while promoting the sustainable recovery and resilience of survivors.

Human Trafficking for the Purpose of Forced Criminality on the Rise in Europe

In its latest annual report, GRETA expressed concern over the increase in human trafficking for the purpose of forced criminality, urging European Union member states to step up victim identification and effectively apply the non-punishment principle. The report, which reviews progress in implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, highlights that people’s vulnerabilities are increasingly being exploited to force them into committing crimes, ranging from shoplifting and forced begging to cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking, and online financial fraud.

Victims are typically recruited through fake job offers on social media and internet platforms, with minors and individuals in situations of extreme social exclusion or precarious migration status being the most affected groups. The report emphasizes that many of these victims are not recognized as such by law enforcement and judicial authorities, which causes them to end up being arrested, prosecuted, and convicted for the crimes they were coerced into committing, rather than receiving the protection and assistance they are entitled to under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

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News Projects victory

The Euro-Arab Foundation at the Council of Europe’s Week Against Hate Speech

The Council of Europe organised the Week Against Hate Speech, between June 17 and 19 in Strasbourg (France). This international gathering’s main objective is to strengthen global democratic responses and foster citizen mobilization against the proliferation of hate speech in our society.

During the meeting, the Euro-Arab Foundation contributed to reviewing the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 on combating hate speech. This key tool provides fundamental guidelines to member states to prevent and combat this issue through a robust legal framework, as well as essential non-legal measures, with a special emphasis on the field of education.

The Euro-Arab researcher, Lucía Alonso Pérez, represented the Foundtion during this international meeting

Presentation of the VicTory Project

Within the framework of this event, the Foundation also had the opportunity to present the research findings on challenges and best practices in supporting victims of hate. This research was carried out as part of the European project VicTory, which promotes a restorative and victim-centered approach to mitigating hate.

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The Euro-Arab Foundation Participates in Organizing the EU Knowledge Hub ‘Exchange Conference’

On June 11 and 12, the Exchange Conference of the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation (EUKH) brought together member state representatives, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in Brussels to reflect on the future of radicalisation prevention in Europe. The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies actively participated in organising this key meeting as a member of the EUKH consortium.

Faced with a rapidly evolving threat landscape, the working sessions allowed participants to take stock of the actions developed under the current Strategic Guidelines (2024–2026), as well as to debate the priorities that should guide the next phase of the European Union’s prevention efforts.

During the conference, critical issues were addressed, such as online radicalization, hybrid ideologies, resilience building, rehabilitation, and the protection of minors. The conclusions and key insights obtained will directly inform the upcoming Strategic Guidelines for the 2027–2029 period and will contribute to the implementation of the ProtectEU framework. The central axis of these forward-looking debates consisted of the evaluation frameworks and trend analysis driven by the 7 EUKH Thematic Panels, in which the Euro-Arab Foundation actively participates as part of several Research Secretariats.