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Initial Session of the VicTory Course, Focused on Victims and Restorative Justice

Last week, the introductory session of the VicTory project’s online training took place. In the online meeting, the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, as the coordinator of the VicTory project, actively participated in the introductory session of the online training, welcoming participants and presenting the comprehensive victim-centered and restorative justice approach that characterizes the project. During the session, the purpose and scope of the training were explained, combining an online course with in-person exchange events, and the importance of the work of professionals who provide justice and empowerment to victims every day was emphasised.

The session also offered participants the opportunity to get to know each other better and begin building networks of collaboration among professionals from different European countries, fostering constructive and enriching exchanges. It was highlighted that criminal justice and victim support go beyond legal and institutional procedures, and that training professionals working in this field is essential to ensure effective and humane assistance.

The Digital Dimension of Harm and Training for Victim Support Professionals

For many people affected by hate crimes or extremism, the harm does not end with the incident itself. This is particularly evident in digital environments, where the ongoing circulation of images, narratives, comments, or threats can prolong suffering, increasing distress and uncertainty beyond the original event. However, despite the growing prevalence of this reality, victims often face these digital aftereffects with limited information and uneven support. Professionals may lack up-to-date knowledge about online risks, particularly regarding the interaction of generative artificial intelligence and algorithmic biases, while digital platforms face challenges in moderating “gray” content and removing it effectively.

Despite these challenges, victim support professionals consulted within the VicTory project emphasize that the digital world can also offer opportunities to improve victim safety, recovery, and reporting, helping to reduce secondary harm. Therefore, the VicTory project highlights the need for clearer professional practices and greater institutional awareness that recognizes the digital dimension of harm, ensuring that information, support, and protective measures are available both in-person and online. This is one of the topics covered in our online training course.

Registration and participation in the online training remain open. This training is aimed at professionals working in the field of support for victims of hate crimes and violent extremism in Europe and is available in Spanish, English, and other languages. Interested individuals can register and obtain more information through the following link: https://lnkd.in/dFysTwaS

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News Projects SHIELDed EN

First Meeting of the Local Working Group to Strengthen the Protection of Places of Worship in Granada

This Wednesday, 17 December, the headquarters of the Euro-Arab Foundation hosted the first meeting of the Local Working Group on the Protection of Places of Worship in Granada, a new platform arising from the joint work of the Euro-Arab Foundation and the Granada City Council, with the aim of enhancing the security of religious spaces and communities in the city.

The creation of this Working Group is part of the SHIELDed project, co-funded by the European Commission under the Internal Security Fund, in which the Euro-Arab Foundation participates alongside various partners. This first meeting brought together representatives of Granada’s main religious communities, civil society organisations, academia, and members of the State Security Forces and Corps.

During the meeting, opened by the Executive Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Antonio Sánchez, and the Councillor for Social Policy, Family, Disability and Older People of the Granada City Council, Amparo Arrabal Martín, the objectives and lines of action of the SHIELDed project were first addressed. Key municipal initiatives were also presented, such as the Municipal Participatory Round Table for Religious Diversity, the Municipal Round Table for Intercultural Dialogue, and the Municipal Observatory against Hate Crimes. These presentations were delivered by Councillor Amparo Arrabal Martín and by the Technical Director and Coordinator of both Municipal Round Tables, María Eugenia Luzón Molero.

The session concluded with a participatory exercise that allowed members of the Working Group to share and express their views on the security of places of worship in the city. Through this exercise, threats, protection needs, challenges, and existing good practices were identified, with the aim of laying the foundations for an action plan to guide the work of the group and define security priorities for religious communities and the institutions involved.

The Euro-Arab Foundation highly values the outcome of this first meeting, highlighting the high level of engagement, interest, and willingness shown by all participants. It also thanks the Granada City Council and the participating organisations for their close collaboration, expressing confidence that this line of joint work will be consolidated over time and that this Working Group will become a useful forum for strengthening coexistence, peace, and security in the city.

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data quality en News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation Advances Inclusive Data Practices at DATA EQUALITY Training of Trainers in Athens

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies has participated in the Steering Committee and the Training of Trainers (ToT) initiative of the DATA Equality project that took place on December 3rd and 4th at the Center for Security Studies (KEMEA) in Athens, Greece. The ToT’s objective was to ensure that all consortium members fully understand and acquire the skills necessary to utilise and test the new methodology developed by the project. This prepares them to become a pool of expert trainers for the upcoming cascade training phase scheduled for Spring 2026, and that will be developed by the Euro-Arab Foundation.

In addition to the ToT progress, the researcher and project coordinator of the Euro-Arab Foundation, José Luis Salido Medina, and the researcher, Paula Cano Cruz, shared the latest updates of the European Handbook on Equality Data during the Steering Committee.

The Euro-Arab Foundation is part of the consortium of DATA EQUALITY project, an initiative that has developed a methodology to endorse inclusive data practices for civil society. The project has established as a high priority the guarantee of inclusive data practices on the security and justice work fields, giving its impact on citizens, with the Court of Appeal of Venice, Italy, as the coordinator, alongside partners such as the High Prosecutorial Council of Albania.

The Euro-Arab’s contribution is based on its extensive experience on cooperation, training and research between Arab and European States. Therefore, its role is to promote studies and research, platforms and forums, as well as methodology development and capacity building. 

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ECLIPSE EN EN Hatedemics News Projects RADICALIZACION EN

The Euro-Arab Foundation Participates in the 4th Training Session of the European Observatory of Online Hate

The fourth training session of the European Observatory of Online Hate (EOOH) took place in Madrid on October 21, organized by Violence Prevention Network International and led by the VPN Academy training team.

The session was attended by more than 40 representatives from politics, civil society, and law enforcement agencies, hailing from 28 different organizations across 10 EU Member States. The event also featured researchers from the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, whose work is specifically focused on the analysis and fight against hate speech within the framework of various European projects in which the Foundation participates.

The final session will take place in Belgium, from November 26 to 27, 2025.

About the EOOH

The European Observatory of Online Hate (EOOH) is a project supported by the European Commission dedicated to combating illegal hate speech and disinformation in the digital environment, aiming to promote a safer online space aligned with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Its strategy is based on a triple approach: Identification (using advanced AI technology to detect harmful content in multiple languages), Analysis (investigating the nature and trends of online hate), and Action (collaborating with law enforcement and civil society to report and address this content, strengthening cooperation and training key actors in the fight against hate narratives such as antisemitism, Islamophobia, and LGTBphobia)

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

Hatedemics Workshop: Artificial Intelligence against Hate and Disinformation

The Faculty of Social Sciences at Pablo de Olavide University (UPO) hosted the workshop ‘Artificial Intelligence against hate and disinformation’ on November 19th. This training session, included in the European project Hatedemics, allowed for a practical and participatory exploration of how these phenomena operate in the digital environment and what strategies and tools can be used to detect, prevent, and combat them.

The meeting, co-organized by the Center for Andalusian Studies Foundation (CENTRA), the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (FUNDEA), and the Maldita.es Foundation, all project members, brought together around thirty students of Sociology, Social Work, Political Science, Pedagogy, and Social Education, as well as professors and representatives from the third sector. They were all interested in delving into the risks posed by disinformation and hate speech in the digital environment and learning tools to identify and curb them.

The first part of the session, led by Vivian Rangel (Maldita Educa), focused on understanding the workings of the disinformation ecosystem: the motivations that drive it, the most frequent narratives, and the formats that make it especially persuasive. Through applied exercises, attendees learned key skills for detecting manipulated content, identifying warning signs, and applying verification strategies designed for critical information consumption.

Among the proposed tools, attendees practiced lateral reading to check the reliability of a website or a source. This exercise allows for a deeper contextualization of information online by answering these questions: Who authored the content? Is the author identifiable? Are they an expert on the subject? Is the information based on facts and data? What evidence is there? Has this information been corroborated by other reliable sources? What do those sources say?

Euro-Arab Researcher Lucía G. del Moral during her presentation

In the second part, Lucía G. del Moral (Euro-Arab Foundation) presented the progress of the Hatedemics digital platform, currently under development. This platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze hate and disinformation dynamics on social networks and offers training resources, exercises, and counter-narrative proposals with the aim of strengthening critical thinking. During the workshop, several of these functionalities were tested, especially the educational activities and pedagogical resources aimed at understanding, identifying, and counteracting online hate, and those focused on user training through the writing of specific composition exercises.

The Hatedemics Project

Hatedemics is a project funded by the European Commission (CERV-2023-CHAR-LITI-101143249) whose purpose is to combat hate speech and disinformation in the digital environment. Its main objective is to train NGOs, civil society organizations, media professionals, authorities, and young activists to effectively identify and respond to these phenomena, with special attention to their impact on the most vulnerable groups.

The project focuses on the intersection between hate speech and disinformation—two closely related issues often addressed independently—in order to promote a more comprehensive and coordinated response to these challenges.

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation Addresses the Fight Against Far-Right Gender Narratives Among Youth

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies has participated in the online seminar “Understanding and Countering Gendered Far-Right Narratives Among Youth,” held on November 18. This workshop was organized within the framework of the European project YOU-DARE (YOUth Debunking the gendered Arguments of far-Right Extremism), an initiative funded by the European Commission.

The Foundation’s participation was led by Lucía G. del Moral, a member of its Research and Projects Department. The seminar served as a key space for the exchange of knowledge and the discussion of effective strategies to address one of the most complex and growing phenomena in the European political and social landscape: the use of gender narratives by far-right movements to mobilize and radicalize young people.

The YOU-DARE project, which began in February 2025 and will run until 2028, specifically seeks to generate knowledge and develop practical tools so that policymakers, civil society, and young people themselves can counter these divisive and anti-democratic discourses, promoting values of equality and respect for human rights.

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EN PARTES EN Shield News PARTES-COM EN Projects

Promoting Interreligious Dialogue in the Training of High-Ranking (Spanish) Civil Guard Officials

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies has collaborated in the organisation of a key training session for the University Master’s Degree in Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at the Civil Guard University Centre. Titled “Interreligious Dialogue Panel: Coexistence, Security, and Cooperation,” the session was dedicated to delving into interreligious dialogue and the challenges of democratic coexistence in a context of growing diversity in Spain.

The session, driven by the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE) with the collaboration of the Euro-Arab Foundation, was held in person at the headquarters of the Civil Guard Orphans Association (APHGC) and is positioned as a strategic high-level space for the exchange of ideas among actors with public decision-making capacity.

A Strategic Forum for Security and Coexistence

The meeting was aimed at the Master’s students, a multidisciplinary profile that includes high-ranking Civil Guard officials, as well as professionals from the judiciary, ministries, security agencies, and penitentiary institutions. The participation of the Euro-Arab Foundation in this forum underscores its experience and institutional relevance in training management personnel on sensitive issues such as diversity management, the fight against extremism, and the promotion of social peace.

The roundtable panel featured the presence of prominent religious denominations in Spain, such as the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, and the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE).

Reflections on Social Cohesion and Diversity

The Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE) was represented by Hicham Oulad Mhammed, a CIE member and expert in interreligious dialogue. During his intervention, he highlighted the need to address the growing social polarisation and the negative impact of hoaxes and narratives that seek the “foreignisation” (“extranjerización”) of Muslim communities in Spain, denying their deep historical roots.

Other key points of his presentation included:

  • The promotion of the positive visibility of Muslims and the importance of Islamic thought being expressed in the Spanish language, while acknowledging the new challenges this generates in the face of intolerance.
  • The recognition of the Spanish legal framework on religious freedom (Law 26/1992) as one of the most advanced, along with the need to improve its practical implementation at the local level.

Hicham Oulad Mhammed stressed that “social cohesion is not built by denying difference, but by integrating it within a framework of mutual respect and real equality,” appealing to the active role of institutions in defending constitutional values.

The Euro-Arab Foundation’s collaboration in the organisation of this event reaffirms its institutional commitment to inter-sectoral cooperation and civic education. By facilitating these high-impact meetings, it directly contributes to the strengthening of interreligious dialogue as an essential tool for democratic coexistence and the prevention of discourses that erode social peace among the State Security Forces and Corps and other key public institutions.

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News Projects Rebel EN

ReBel’s Online Round Table on Integration and Sense of Belonging of Migrant Persons

The upcoming online round table titled “Policy Pathways: Enhancing Migrant Integration and Sense of Belonging in the EU” will take place on November 7, 2025. The event, held via Zoom from 15:00 to 16:30 EET and organised within the framework of the European ReBel project, will focus on inclusive policymaking to drive integration and strengthen migrants’ sense of belonging in the European Union.

This event is a unique opportunity to discover the new insights emerging from the ReBel research project “Redesigning Belonging”. This project, in which the Euro-Arab Foundation actively participates, deeply explores the barriers and resilience strategies of migrant women in Europe, with the primary goal of offering viable recommendations for significant change in integration policies and practices.

What to expect from this online meeting:

  • Key findings from Spain, Finland, and the Netherlands.
  • Expert perspectives on policies, practices, and innovation from Martijn de Waal (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, https://www.martijndewaal.nl/), Johannes Jauhiainen (Demos Helsinki, https://demoshelsinki.fi/), and Rowan Aly Razek (migration expert).
  • Practical tools to foster solidarity and empowerment.

Registration is open: https://laurea.zoom.us/meeting/register/UwgKpZ2zQ4GDjqmwKVPA4w

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News Projects VIRTUOUS en

VIRTUOUS project Meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece 

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies recently participated in a transnational meeting of the VIRTUOUS project, held in Thessaloniki (Greece). During this meeting, the partners of this project – funded by the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund (ISF) – reviewed progress, shared knowledge, and planned the next steps to ensure the successful implementation of this initiative on the protection of places of worship.

A press conference was also held to showcase the project’s progress to local stakeholders, demonstrating its practical contribution to community security and collaboration across sectors. The press conference emphasized the project’s strong commitment to improving community security, fostering cooperation among the actors involved, and delivering tangible results across the participating countries.

José Mª González Riera (Euro-Arab Foundation) during its intervention in the meeting

Professor Nikolaos Dimitriadis, President of the Center for Ecumenical, Apostolic, and Environmental Studies (CEMES), emphasized the symbolic and practical importance of protecting sacred spaces. “Places of worship represent not only faith but the foundation of peaceful coexistence. Thessaloniki has long been a city where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together harmoniously. Protecting these spaces is essential to preserving that legacy,” he stated. 

Likewise, the press conference highlighted that ensuring security in religious sites is not only about physical protection but also about strengthening resilience, fostering interfaith understanding, and maintaining public trust. A message of support from the Office of the Prime Minister of Greece further reinforced the importance of such initiatives. 

The VIRTUOUS Project continues to advocate for coordinated measures that combine faith, knowledge, and community engagement, showing that true security is built on collaboration and solidarity across religious and societal lines. 

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EN Diversidad cultural EN Multiculturalidad News Projects

We Participate in the VII National Congress “Dismantling Islamophobia”

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies reinforced its commitment to the fight against racism and discrimination by actively participating in the VII National Congress “Dismantling Islamophobia,” held on October 21 and 22 at the Faculty of Education of the University of Málaga.

The Congress, organized by the Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants, brought together experts, academics, and activists to analyze the complex manifestations of Islamophobia in Spain and Europe, and to propose effective strategies for its eradication.

The Euro-Arab Foundation’s participation, part of the activities of its Research and Projects Department, featured the double intervention of its experts, Rascha Albaba and Lucía G. del Moral.

Institutional Training as a Prevention Tool

The Euro-Arab researcher, Rascha Albaba, during her intervention.

The Euro-Arab Foundation researcher, Rascha Albaba, presented her paper titled “Institutional training: preventing Islamophobia from within”, highlighting the essential work of the Euro-Arab Foundation in providing specialized training aimed at various key actors:

  • Security Forces and Bodies: for a better understanding and management of diversity.
  • Civil Society and Experts: to strengthen their intervention capabilities.
  • Institutional Actors: at the state and European level.

This training addresses crucial topics such as Islamophobia, interreligious dialogue, intercultural coexistence, and human rights.

Albaba emphasized both the activities developed within the framework of European projects and the Foundation’s own initiatives, stressing the accumulated experience of its experts and the solid institutional connections of the Euro-Arab Foundation.

Furthermore, the expert underlined the importance of human rights mechanisms as fundamental vehicles for transferring Spain’s situation regarding Islamophobia to the international sphere, using political and international dialogue as a crucial method for prevention.

The Euro-Arab researcher, Lucía G. del Moral, during her presentation.

For her part, Lucía García del Moral participated in the panel dedicated to analyzing institutional Islamophobia, with a paper titled “From Theory to Practice: European projects that transform the institutional response to Islamophobia.”

The participation of the Euro-Arab Foundation in this important national forum reaffirms its commitment to promoting the values of tolerance, diversity, and respect for human rights, and its active role in the fight against all forms of discrimination.