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EN Hatedemics News Projects

HATEDEMICS Project Kicks off in Trento

Lucía G. del Moral, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation and coordinator of HATEDEMICS at the foundation, speaks at the kick-off meeting together with researcher José Luis Salido.

On 17th and 18th April the Italian city of Trento will be holding the kick-off meeting of HATEDEMICS, a European Commission-funded project that put together fourteen partners with the objective of hampering hate speech and disinformation through AI-based technologies to prevent and combat polarisation and the spread of intolerant speech and conspiracy theories.

The project arises as a consequence of the rapid growth of social media platforms as facilitators of communication and interaction, but also as fertile ground for discrimination, hatred and misinformation with multiple targets. In this sense, during two years HATEDEMICS will address online hate and fake news, monitoring, detecting and recording. It will estimate the ‘hatedemics risk’ as the sum of the ‘hate speech and infodemics risks’ and, automatically assess behavioural changes.

The project will pilot and test a HATEDEMICS Platform, a tool that will be useful for NGOs/CSOs, fact checkers, journalists and media companies, as well as public authorities and youth activists to raise awareness of hate speech, and foster education through critical thinking and the ability to identify hate speech.

FUNDEA’S role in HATEDEMICS

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies will be in charge of the research and support package to create the Platform, i.e. to prepare the HATEDEMICS methodology considering the current trends of hate speech, disinformation and multi-targeted discrimination [R1] online, as well as the requirements and needs of all stakeholders and target groups mentioned above. This will provide guidelines and approaches to engage all of them in the daily use of the advanced HATEDEMICS Platform and the development of a specific training and educational pathway. It will also facilitate the implementation of the pilot project, ensuring that the HATEDEMICS approach goes beyond the framework of the project and its end.

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EN PARTES EN Shield News Projects

A guide to protect places of worship

SHIELD Handbook/Guía
SHIELD Handbook/Guía

Synagogues, churches and mosques are of vital importance for social coexistence and cohesion in the European Union; however, they have been, and can become, targets of potential terrorist attacks as witnessed in the last decade. This has been one of the main reasons for launching the SHIELD project, funded by the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund (ISF) programme. The entities involved in SHIELD, including the Granada-based Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, are clear about the need to create a “cultural shield” that defends both individuals and religious communities, since, when talking about the physical security of infrastructures, aspects such as the environment, culture, social inclusion and inter-religious dialogue are underlined.

The project consortium was composed of eighteen partners from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Romania, research centres, intercultural institutes, local and security authorities and even religious associations with the common goal of identifying and proposing concrete solutions to burning issues of common interest, such as assessing the risk and vulnerability of places of worship to potential terrorist attacks.

Tackling extremism and protecting religious freedom

The establishment of projects such as SHIELD promote mutual understanding and increase respect, they also facilitate the meeting and sharing of knowledge, creating synergies. In this case, SHIELD has facilitated the development of a common strategy for reducing threats and increasing religious freedom. During the two years of the project, SHIELD has hosted several dialogue meetings aimed at countering religious extremism, with the co-participation of state security forces, the society and security and security technology companies.

The final event, held in Brussels, was attended by Tamara Muñoz, Programme Officer of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, as well as representatives from ten European countries and the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). In addition, copies of the guide produced by SHIELD entities (downloadable here) with guidelines on how to increase security and protect places of worship from violence and the threat of terrorism could be collected.

The guide has been translated into nine languages, including English and Arabic, and is aimed at religious community leaders, security officials, local policy makers and law enforcement officials. It gathers data on violent aggressions in Europe that show that the Muslim community has been the most attacked between 2000 and 2020, suffering 48% of the total aggressions compared to 29% of the Christian community and 24% of the Jewish community. This document aims, on the one hand, to raise awareness on the prevention of radicalisation and the issue of security and, on the other hand, to provide practical and operational guidance on risk assessment tools, technical security measures or mitigation approaches after an attack with the provision of victim support services.

The research continues

Although SHIELD has come to an end, another European project, PARTES, will continue to work until April 2025 with the same objective. In this case, the Euro-Arab Foundation in Spain is leading the work package “Threats and Responses Landscape”, a research to establish an overview of attacks on religious communities, the hate crimes they suffer and existing protection measures, as well as the identification of good practices of cooperation between religious institutions and public authorities.

PARTES’ priorities are to improve cooperation between public authorities and religious communities, to conduct awareness-raising campaigns, trainings and seminars, as well as to take stock, evaluate and exchange best practices and tools in this field.

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation in the meeting of the European Commission’s DG JUST

Reunión en Bruselas de coordinadoras de proyectos europeos financiados por el programa DG JUST de la Comisión Europea. 16 de abril de 2024

On 16 and 17 April, the European Commission is bringing together in Brussels the coordinators of projects funded by the Directorate-General for Justice (DG JUST), the department responsible for EU policies on justice, consumer rights and gender equality. The more than 100 people invited to the event will receive information on the new rules for funding and justification of expenditure, as well as guidelines for the quarterly review of each project to be submitted to the Commission.

The Euro-Arab Foundation’s Director of Research and International Projects, Javier Ruipérez, together with Euro-Arab researcher, Daniel Pérez, are participating in the event as coordinators of VicTory and as partners of the Data Equality project, both funded by DG JUST. The first one is focused on preventing discrimination in the use of data and the latter on improving the application of restorative justice for victims of hate and extremism.

In addition to the training sessions, the event serves as an opportunity for the different entities to develop synergies and establish contacts to create networks, which is essential in this type of projects focused on promoting cooperation between justice professionals, victim support workers, victims themselves, researchers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Participants will also receive workshops on gender mainstreaming or how to include a gender perspective in all their work.

The meeting will also address the call of the CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) programme which, together with the Justice programme, is part of the European Commission’s new Justice, Rights and Values funds. One of the projects funded by CERV is ReBel, of which the Euro-Arab Foundation is a member. It aims to foster social understanding of migrants and improve migration policies by working closely with migrant women. Another ongoing CERV project, in which the Foundation is involved, is HATEDEMICS, which aims to empower NGOs/CSOs, journalists, youth or public authorities against hate speech rooted in misinformation and targeting vulnerable groups.

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EN Bigosint News Projects

Results of the BIGOSINT Anti-Trafficking in Human Beings project

The BIGOSINT project, funded by the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund and aimed at analysing, developing and applying Big Data and OSINT tools to combat Internet-based Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) networks, came to an end on 3 April at a conference in Bologna, Italy. The event was attended by representatives of the four partners that have developed this European project: the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Ordinary Court of Trento (Italy), coordinator of the project, Agenfor International (Italy), the University for Public Administration in Bremen (Germany) and the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (Spain).

In the presentation of the conclusions, it was stated that the way in which a follow-the-money approach to counterfeit documents can open the door to the identification of other crimes that are, with some frequency, related to THB. It was also indicated that, while the follow-the-money approach is essential, there is a clear need for more effort to be devoted to criminal investigation in the digital sphere, as the piloting of the platforms in Italy and Spain has shown.

One issue that has emerged from BIGOSINT’s work is the need to further explore how to interlink data more effectively and comprehensively, and how to work in a more centralised way. The project has also identified the need to foster more dynamic relations between prosecutors’ offices and law enforcement agencies, for which memoranda of understanding between these bodies are of great help. In this regard, the case of the Venice Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Venice Local Police, which have used the aforementioned digital platforms, provides a fruitful example. Another recommendation resulting from the project is to further reflect on the broadening and deepening of cooperation channels between different local, national and regional bodies and the European Commission.

Cases analysed

The Bremen University of Public Administration (HfÖV) has investigated several prostitution cases with the TANGLES and FAST platforms and suggests different ways in which these investigative tools could achieve greater efficiency.

For its part, the Local Police of Murcia has underlined the advantages that the investigation platforms offer in terms of coordination, efficiency and savings in material and human resources, giving as an example that a closed case (reckless races posted on Youtube) was investigated again with the help of the OSINT and TANGLES platforms and that in just one day and one police officer the same level of investigation has been reached that at the time required three officers and three weeks of work. Moreover, the effectiveness of these platforms in the investigation of other cases related to trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation has been noted.

The Trento Prosecutor’s Office, which presented the use of the platforms in cases of document forgery and trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation (caporalato) and their interrelationships, has highlighted the improvements that these digital platforms make available to the investigative work, as they allow access to information in a more comprehensive and agile way. It is more evident that, while each procedure has an autonomous life, connections can often be made between crimes that would have been more difficult and time-consuming to identify using more traditional methods. The lack of human resources has been pointed out as a reality that, while mitigating the use of these platforms, needs to be addressed with the creation of new jobs, both in prosecutors’ offices and in law enforcement. Likewise, these platforms allow for more dynamic, efficient and coordinated relations between the public prosecutor’s office and the security forces.

BIGOSINT recommends promoting the creation of single analysis centres, following the experience of the Venice Local Police.

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EN Bigosint News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation will participate in the final conference of BIGOSINT against trafficking in human beings

On 3 April, BIGOSINT, a project funded by the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund, will conclude two years of work to combat human trafficking through the analysis of Big Data and OSINT (Open Source INTelligence) at a conference in the Italian city of Bologna. The event will be attended by representatives of the four partners that have developed this European project: the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Ordinary Court of Trento (Italy), coordinator of the project, Agenfor International (Italy), the University for Public Administration in Bremen (Germany) and the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (Spain).

Sergio Bianchi, Director of the Agenfor International Foundation, will be in charge of the opening with an overview of the project, the risk assessment in the cycle of smart tools for information collection and, together with Rihab Ben Ammar, the analysis of new human trafficking routes.

Afterwards, Marijke Paulien Van Reijsen from MBS Engineering will present an analysis and explain the use of FAST Data, a real-time Big Data process, in the context of preventing and breaking human trafficking networks. Gianni Franzoi, Senior Commissioner of the Venice Local Police, will give his experience with the multi-agency cooperation model and new tools and Yuval Sanders, Managing Director of Falkor Ltd., will give an overview of public-private prevention with a hands-on practice on the TANGLES platform.

In the afternoon session, Emanuele Florindi, an IT lawyer, will present applications for monitoring the financial activity of traffickers in cyberspace. José González Riera, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies and José Martínez Marín, from the Local Police of Murcia; Trygve Ben Holland, from the University for Public Administration in Bremen; Ivan Stenico and Nicola Cordeschi from the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Ordinary Court of Trento will present cases of trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation, the investigation of online crime and the indicators (red flags) of trafficking.

The event will conclude with the presentation of the Social Engagement Report: Overview and Results by Naz Öztürk, Project Manager and OSINT Analyst at Agenfor International.

The final conference, which will be simultaneously interpreted English-Italian-English, can be followed online, for which registration is required: https://forms.gle/bfX6LDzD3YazbJ7U9

More information on the project: https://projects.fundea.org/bigosint/

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News

The Euro-Arab Foundation participates in training on violent radicalisation and jihadist extremism

Pirámide de la prevención y afrontamiento de la radicalización violenta
Pirámide de la prevención y afrontamiento de la radicalización violenta. Una guía para profesionales de primera línea. Publicada por la Universidad de Córdoba y coeditado por CIFAL y la Fundación Euroárabe.

This Thursday, the Euro-Arab Foundation gave the seminar Prevention of Radicalisation in the EU and Member States: policies, strategies and areas of action from multi-level and multi-agency approaches, as part of the University Course on violent radicalisation and jihadist extremism organised by the University Centre of the Civil Guard, attached to the Carlos III University of Madrid, and aimed at the Civil Guard, the judiciary and local authorities.

Javier Ruipérez, Director of Research and Projects at the Euro-Arab Foundation, and Daniel Pérez, researcher at the same, were in charge of this training, whose objectives were to contextualise the launch and consolidation of European prevention policies; to review the evolution of the psychosocial models that explain radicalisation and to address the multi-agency and multi-level prevention approach.

Spanish National counter-terrorism strategy

In this seminar, the Spanish National Strategy against Terrorism (ENCOT-2023), which was approved this week by the National Security Council, served as an example within the state plans that reflect the strategic recommendations of the European Commission.

The researchers from the Euro-Arab Foundation, both belonging to the Area of Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism, stressed that prevention policies, whether European, national or local, ‘must be based on scientific knowledge, for which it is essential to study both risk indicators and protection indicators, and that it should be a cross-cutting approach that can be used for jihadism as well as for multiple ideologies’.

On the one hand, the need to invest more in primary prevention, the first level of the pyramidal representation of society to which the majority of the non-radicalised population belongs, was stressed. The second level covers the population susceptible to radicalisation and the third level covers radical or terrorist individuals.

For the Euro-Arab experts, there is a risk of population transfer from the first level to the third, due to the current process of polarisation, and the measures to be taken in that case would be much more difficult to implement and much more costly. To avoid this, they said, “it is essential to focus on prevention policies in protection and on people’s resilience and autonomy”.

Finally, the importance of “bringing European policy down to the local level”, through national plans, and ensuring that there is feedback, i.e. “that the local level also inspires national plans and European policies to combat violent radicalisation and extremism”, was also highlighted.

The Euro-Arab Foundation, through its research group, has carried out various training activities on the prevention of radicalisation in European projects in which it participates, in Spanish universities or through the European Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN).

Prevention and coping with violent radicalisation. A guide for frontline practitioners. Published by the University of Cordoba and co-published by CIFAL and the Euro-Arab Foundation.

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EN Mirad News Projects RADICALIZACION EN

MIRAD project ends bringing together research, policy and practice in the fight against multi-ideological radicalisation

Evento final de MIRAD
Evento final de MIRAD

The final event of the European MIRAD project ended two years of work dedicated to assestment and prevention of radicalisation. The objectives of the MIRAD project were achieved thanks to the cooperation of the project consortium partners, to which the Euro-Arab Foundation belongs,  from seven European countries, together with a group of experts from the MIRAD Advisory Board, the KES Advisory Council and members of the Expert Boards on Jihadist Extremism and Right-wing Extremism.

The event was opened by Christiane Hoehn, Principal Advisor to the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who acknowledged the good work of the MIRAD project and its alignment with the strategic orientations of the European Commission. The final conference was attended by leading practitioners, prison staff, security forces, probation officers, NGOs and policy makers from different EU and non-EU countries.

During the event, the results of the project were presented, such as a tool to assess the reliability and capacity of NGOs to support de-radicalisation processes. Among the most expected results, the adaptation of the IRS risk assessment tool to consider the role of gender and ideology in the radicalisation process with a focus on right-wing extremism and jihadist extremism stands out.

Besides, a series of collaborative protocols for multi-agency transition were presented, stemming from the key role played by CSOs/NGOs and volunteers in promoting reintegration programmes, fostering inter-agency cooperation. The results of mixed-method training courses (training of trainers, e-Learning course, virtual reality training scenarios) to maximise the results of radicalisation disengagement and reintegration programmes were also made public.

Some of the conclusions reached at the final MIRAD event were the still high threat of islamist terrorism and the growing danger of right-wing extremism. The need for rehabilitation outside and inside prison and the need to assess what happens after prison was also addressed, as well as the identification of prisoners vulnerable to radicalisation as a basis for prevention and disengagement, and the promotion of models and protocols for inter-sectoral and inter-institutional collaboration.

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EN Hatedemics News

The Center for Andalusian Studies and the Euro-Arab Foundation will work to combat hate speech in a common European project

Reunión entre CENTRA y FUNDEA por el proyecto HATEDEMICS contra delitos de odio

The Andalusian Studies Centre (CENTRA), based in Seville, and the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, based in Granada, have held a meeting at the headquarters of the latter to coordinate the latest aspects of the European project HATEDEMICS, which will unite them in the task of preventing and combating polarisation and the spread of racist, xenophobic and intolerant discourses and conspiracy theories through technologies based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The project, funded by the European Commission, will be coordinated by the Fondazione Bruno Kessler and has thirteen partners: the Euro-Arab Foundation, CENTRA and Maldita. es in Spain; Saher Europe (Estonia), European Association for Local Democracy (France); CESIE, the Fact-Checking Factory SRL and the Commune of Trento (Italy); Solidarity and Overseas SErvice and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality (Malta) and the Centre for Citizenship Education, the National Research Institute and the Association of Demagogues (Poland).

The Euro-Arab Foundation will lead the work package that will define the approach, the socio-technical requirements and the methodology to be used, considering both the current trends of hate speech and disinformation, online multi-target discrimination and the needs of the target groups of this project, NGOs and CSOs, policy makers, legal authorities, IT companies, journalists and fact-checkers, the academic and research sector and the general public using the Internet and social networks.

The Andalusian Studies Centre, for its part, will be in charge of the report that will form the basis of the future HATEDEMICS Platform with which to prevent, tackle and denounce multi-target discrimination, online hate and misinformation, with updated, specific and effective indicators for better management of hate speech phenomena, applying the results of focus groups and semi-structured interviews, with recommendations for transferability and adaptability for the promotion of alternative narratives.

One of the main goals of HATEDEMICS is to improve the capacities and critical thinking of the target groups with reliable AI tools, combined with advanced data collection methods, will allow for more tailored online interventions resulting in more efficient and effective efforts of both professionals and volunteers. The vision is to maintain fairness and balance by applying appropriate measures and ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.

The launch of the HATEDEMICS project is scheduled to take place on 17 April in the city of Trento with a kick-off meeting attended by all partners.

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EN PARTES News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation organises a conference in Melilla on interreligious dialogue and hate crime prevention

Inauguración del foro 'Enfoques participativos para la protección de lugares de culto' en la Delegación de Gobierno de Melilla, con la Delegada del Gobierno, Sabrina Moh, y el Secretario Ejecutivo de la Fundación Euroárabe, Antonio Sánchez Ortega.

Participatory approaches to the protection of places of worship is the title given to the forum hosted by the Government Delegation in Melilla on Thursday, organised by the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies in the framework of the PARTES project funded by the European Commission. The Government Delegate, Sabrina Moh, opened the event by thanking Melilla for having been chosen as the venue for this forum and pointing out the importance of working for the prevention of hate crimes, inter-religious dialogue, tolerance and respect.

“We are witnessing the emergence of messages of polarisation and tension, and I think it is vital to work to prevent hate crimes, which is something that we must do together institutions and entities while focusing on this issue so that society is aware of this problem and tools are put in place to put an end to it”, Moh indicated.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez Ortega, recalled that the aim of the organisation he represents is to create bridges of collaboration, knowledge and research. He therefore recognised that Melilla is a “privileged” place, as it is an “estuary of civilisations and cultures which perfectly demonstrates this coexistence and this model of participation”. Sánchez stressed that the results of these conference “will feed into the PARTES project and it will serve as a model for transfer to civil society”.

The working session was also attended by the representative of the European Commission’s funding programme, Tamara Muñoz, representatives of the State Security Forces and Corps, and members of the city’s religious communities, among other civil society organisations.

The PARTES project

The European PARTES project started on 31 March 2023 and is scheduled to end in April 2025. It proposes to develop, through an empirical, inclusive and participatory methodology, a comprehensive prevention model for the protection of places of worship (synagogues, mosques, and churches) in the European Union, thus also preventing hate crimes against religious communities.

The Euro-Arab Foundation leads the “Threats and Responses Overview” Work Package which coordinates the research to establish an overview of attacks on religious communities, hate crimes against them, and existing protection measures. It identifies also good practices for cooperation between religious institutions and public authorities, for the protection of places of worship. The Euro-Arab was also in charge of organising the participatory workshop in Melilla, held on Wednesday at the UGR, and the inter-religious forum on Thursday at the headquarters of the Government Delegation in Melilla.

Euroarab researcher and organiser of the PARTES conference in Melilla, José Luis Salido, giving the participatory workshop, held at the UGR.
Euro-Arab Foundation’s researcher and organiser of the PARTES conference in Melilla, José Luis Salido, giving the participatory workshop, held at the UGR.
Inauguración del taller participativo, celebrado en la UGR, a cargo de César Solano, decano de la Facultad de Ciencias Salud (UGR), Tamara Muñoz, responsable de programa de la Dirección General de Migraciones y Asuntos de Interior de la Comisión Europea y José Luis Salido, investigador de la Fundación Euroárabe y organizador de las jornadas.
Opening of the participatory workshop, held at the UGR, by César Solano, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (UGR), Tamara Muñoz, Programme Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, and José Luis Salido, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation and organiser of the conference.
Meeting of the Euro-Arab researchers, José Luis Salido and Daniel Pérez, with Fadela Mohatar, Councillor for Culture, Cultural Heritage and the Elderly of Melilla and Marta Marzol, advisor for Culture of the Council, in the framework of the PARTES project conference.
Meeting of the Euro-Arab researchers, José Luis Salido and Daniel Pérez, with Fadela Mohatar, Councillor for Culture, Cultural Heritage and the Elderly of Melilla and Marta Marzol, advisor for Culture of the Council, in the framework of the PARTES project conference.
Inauguration of the forum 'Participatory approaches to the protection of places of worship' at the Government Delegation of Melilla, with the Government Delegate, Sabrina Moh, and the Executive Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez Ortega.
Opening of the forum ‘Participatory approaches to the protection of places of worship’ at the Government Delegation of Melilla, with the Government Delegate, Sabrina Moh, and the Executive Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez Ortega.
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EN Shield News Projects

The SHIELD project comes to an end with a Guide for the Protection of Places of Worship

Conferencia final de SHIELD
Conferencia final de SHIELD

On 28 February, the final conference of the European SHIELD project took place in Brussels with the presentation of the results as a formula for coexistence between people of different faiths. The event was attended by the programme manager of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Tamara Muñoz, as well as representatives from ten European countries and the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The project has aimed to identify and propose concrete solutions to burning issues of common interest, such as assessing the risk and vulnerability of places of worship to potential terrorist attacks, providing a comprehensive guide (downloadable here) to increase security.

SHIELD Handbook
SHIELD Handbook

During the two years of the project, SHIELD has hosted a number of dialogue meetings with the aim of countering religious extremism, with the co-participation of state security forces, society and security technology companies. The final recipients of the results of the SHIELD project, the representatives of religious communities, have played a decisive role in providing advice and suggestions based on cultural reflection when talking about the physical security of infrastructures, aspects such as the environment, culture, social inclusion and inter-religious dialogue are underlined.

José Mª Riera, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, participating in the final SHIELD conference.
José Mª Riera, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, participating in the final SHIELD conference.

At the final conference it became clear that synagogues, churches and mosques are of vital importance for social coexistence and cohesion in the European Union. However, they have been and can become targets of potential terrorist attacks, as witnessed in the last decade. For those involved in SHIELD, it is necessary to create a cultural shield that defends individuals and religious communities, but it is also necessary to create opportunities to work and take part in projects that facilitate encounter and knowledge sharing. The establishment of projects such as SHIELD between diverse faith identities promotes mutual understanding and increases respect, a synergy that culminates in the development of a common strategy for the reduction of threats and the enhancement of religious freedom.