On January 25 and 26, 2022, the Kick-Off meeting of the European project SHIELD, is held with representatives of the 19 European organizations, including the Euro-Arab Foundation, which form the consortium. This first meeting, held in virtual format, marks the beginning of this new project funded by the European Commission under the Internal Security Fund.
The SHIELD project aims to protect Christian, Jewish and Muslim places of worship from terrorist attacks in 11 countries of the European Union. To this end, SHIELD aims to enhance cooperation between public and private actors, raise awareness of the danger of terrorism, and develop new or upgrade methodologies and solutions to protect places of worship and mitigate the effects of attacks. To this end, the SHIELD consortium includes EU public and private actors – Christian, Jewish and Muslim organisations, security practitioners, LEAs, municipalities, experts in risk detection and technological partners. In this way, both the capacity of the Member States and the European Union itself will be improved in the management of risks related to terrorism, the protection of people and buildings.c
SHIELD will identify the critical points in places of worship of each of the three religions, the circumstances and rituals (Sunday Mass, Shabbat, Jumuʿa) that are most subject to the risk of terrorist attacks, the religious buildings that are potentially most vulnerable, as well as the types terrorist attack that would be more likely to survive. SHIELD will outline tailored recommendations and guidelines focused on prevention and the implementation of common protocols to mitigate the impact of attacks. SHIELD will produce and distribute factsheets and leaflets to religious leaders who will actively spread them and raise awareness on terrorist threat among respective communities.
On first day, partners will introduce the project overview and background, as well as the 5 work packages: WP1: Management and Coordination of the Action; WP2: Analysis of critical points, activities and risks; WP3: Identification of security measures; WP4: Simulation of security measures; WP5: Dissemination and communication. On second day, work sessions will be held in which the partners will discuss the organization of their work packages and plan the upcoming tasks and next steps as well as establish needed inputs from other WPs and expected outputs for other WPs.
SHIELD has a consortium made up of 19 institutions and organizations from 11 European countries:
Project Coordinator:
SYNYO GmbH – Austria
Partners:
Zanasi Alessandro SRL – Italy
Fundacja Obserwatorium Spoleczne – Poland
Fundación Euroárabe de Altos Estudios – Spain
Institul intercultural Timisoara – Romania
TECOMS SRL – Italy
Spin System ASBL – Belgium
Hochschule fur den offentlichen dienst in Bayern – Germany
Municipio do Barreiro – Portugal
Europe Islamic Association – Italy
ISGAP Europe – Italy
European Organisation for Security – Belgium
Polskie Towarzystwo Oceny Technologii – Poland
Italpol Vigilanza SRL – Italy
Centro Internazionale di Ricerca Sistemica – Italy
Fondazione Amici della Cattedrale – Italy
ASSOCIATION O.R.T. – France
Glavna Direktsia Natsionalna Politsia – Bulgaria
Orszagos Rabbikepzo Zsido Egyetem – Hungary
