Category: EN PARTES

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EN PARTES News Projects

Interreligious meeting at the Euro-Arab Foundation in the framework of the PARTES project

On 19 and 20 November, the training and capacity building sessions of the European project PARTES for the protection of places of worship took place at the headquarters of the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies. Organised in collaboration with the Local Police of Murcia, these conferences allowed to share experiences and good practices, as well as to identify new opportunities to strengthen cooperation between the different institutions involved in the implementation of the project and the key actors in the protection of places of worship, such as religious communities, police forces, public authorities and civil society organisations. Participants and speakers included members of religious communities from Granada and Murcia, State Security Forces such as the Guardia Civil and Mossos d’Esquadra, as well as other key entities such as the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation (Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia).

Some of the most relevant results of the PARTES project are the so-called ‘PARTES Guardian Approach’, a holistic model designed in a participatory and inclusive way, which considers all relevant dimensions for the protection of places of worship and the ‘Action Sheets’, a compilation of good practices drawn from the ten countries that make up the project consortium.

PARTES is a project funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Commission which aims to develop a comprehensive prevention model for the protection of places of worship in the European Union through an empirical, inclusive and participatory methodology in order to prevent hate crimes against religious communities. As part of its priorities, the project has developed awareness-raising campaigns, evaluated and exchanged good practices across the consortium member countries, and developed workshops, training and seminars to improve cooperation between public authorities and religious communities, among other issues related to the protection of places of worship.

Project website.

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EN PARTES News Projects

«From Margins to Targets: How to Counter Exclusion and Protect Religious Minorities»

Since March 2023, the PARTES project («Participatory approaches to protecting places of worship» – more information here), funded by the EU, has been investigating attacks on religious communities and respective places of worship. Their findings show that minority faiths are more likely to be targeted than mainstream religions. However, the question of the social motivations of this phenomenon remains to be answered.

Read the complete article by our researcher José Luis Salido here.

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EN PARTES News Projects

The PARTES consortium meets in Brussels to exchange achievements and learnings

The entities associated in PARTES, the European project that seeks to protect places of worship, met on April 22nd and 23rd in Brussels in order to share the lessons learned and achievements reached so far. The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies is part of it and its researcher, José Luis Salido Medina, coordinated the PARTES Conference held in Melilla in March, which brought together representatives of different religious confessions.

Our reasearcher attended both, the workshop on April 22, and the Steering Committee on the 23rd. The workshop discussed the current challenges and issues that places of worship are facing. It also addressed the importance of bridging the communication gaps that may exist between the various religious communities and between them and the authorities. On its part, the fourth meeting of the PARTES Steering Committee was held to evaluate the work of the project over the past four months, identify key issues for discussion and develop a collaborative plan for the coming months.

Currently, the PARTES consortium is compiling local communication and security strategies to protect places of worship in ten European Union countries.

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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 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 PARTES News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation participates in the PARTES project on the protection of places of worship

PARTES project (Participatory approaches to protecting places of worship) proposes a comprehensive model for the protection of places of worship (PoW) that is evidence-based, inclusive and participatory, in order to effectively combat the security threats posed to synagogues, mosques and churches in the European Union, thus also preventing hate crimes against religious communities.

The Euro-Arab Foundation is part of the consortium and leads the “Threats and Responses Landscape” work package, which coordinates research to establish an overview of attacks on religious communities, hate crimes against them and existing protection measures, as well as to identify good practices for cooperation between religious institutions and public authorities, and for the protection of places of worship.

PARTES aims to achieve the following objectives:

  • Map the specific threat landscape of involved religious communities (incl. cyber threats); 
  • Assess and derive lessons learned on vulnerabilities and existing security concepts of involved religious communities and exchange best practices on protective measures Europe-wide; 
  • Establish cooperation and communication structures and channels between religious communities and local authorities; 
  • Develop proactive and preventive security measures; 
  • Carry out trainings and workshops with religious and local authorities; 
  • Raise awareness among the wider population about the threat and strategies of extremist organisations targeting places of worship and involve them in prevention strategies. 

The methodology employed in the project is multi-disciplinary and participatory in nature, involving researchers and end-users within and beyond the consortium, and also citizens. PARTES employs a variety of methods, from desk research and interviews to live labs, workshops and dialogue forums.

The project seeks to make a significant contribution to the improvement of the overall protection of public spaces through the creation and enhancement of PoW’s preventive and security concepts by taking the threat landscape, the online dimension and pre-attack, preventive phases and measures into account, as well as by the newly established communication structures with authorities.

The motivation for this project lies in the recent trend of attacks and hate crimes, both in the digital and physical world, targeting places of worship in Europe and around the world. These attacks are symptomatic of a growing violent extremist phenomenon in Europe, fuelled by extremist rhetoric, ignorance of other religions and cultures, and insufficient societal engagement in preventing extremism.The project considers that this phenomenon needs to be addressed in a more complex way, going beyond architectural security and police presence.

PARTES is funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Commission. The consortium involves experts of 15 institutions from 10 European countries, where the project coordinator is the Austrian Institute of International Affairs (oiip).

More information about the project on the official website: www.partes-project.eu