Last week, the Euro-Arab Foundation participated in the kick-off meeting of a new 3-year project, SHIELDed, aimed at protecting places of worship, schools and religious communities in Europe.
The kick-off meeting brought together the project’s 17 partner organisations from 10 European countries and marked the beginning of a coordinated effort to address the growing vulnerabilities and challenges facing communities across Europe. By promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, strengthening the capacity of soft targets (such as schools and religious institutions and sites), inter-religious dialogue, tolerance, democratic and civic literacy, and critical thinking, the SHIELDed project seeks to foster a shared culture of safety, dialogue and mutual respect for all.
The Euro-Arab Foundation was represented at the SHIELDed launch event by its researcher Rascha Albaba Acosta.
In this project, the Euro-Arab Foundation will lead the coordination and implementation of the third work package, which focuses on establishing a baseline understanding of the needs, threats and vulnerabilities of soft targets, including local and organisational specificities, as well as the development of accurate and innovative materials and mechanisms to enable rapid, effective and comprehensive multi-level threat assessment and response options.
About SHIELDed
Funded by ISF (Homeland Security Fund), SHIELDed aims to respond to the global rise of disinformation, hatred and resulting violence directed at soft targets such as schools and places of worship. The project aims to work towards the protection of these symbolic places and their communities by building on the EU Action Plan to Support the Protection of Public Spaces and promoting cooperation between public authorities, religious organisations, educational institutions and local communities.
In addition, SHIELDed aims to improve public awareness by working with local communities and their youth. This will be achieved through capacity building, cooperation, awareness raising, preventive and response mechanisms. SHIELDed plays a crucial role in preventing crime and mitigating radicalisation and extremism, through primary and secondary preventive mechanisms. Its focus on improving literacy, tolerance and resilience will be crucial for tertiary prevention, particularly in assisting the (re)integration of people with criminal convictions.
On 28 April, the third Network Panel Thematic Debate, organised by the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (FUNDEA) and Innovative Prison Systems (IPS), examined the intersections between migration and security, and the risks of unlawful profiling of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. This online debate brought together key actors and organisations, including law enforcement, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as experts, to discuss how to prevent radicalisation in a way that does not unduly undermine fundamental rights, including the right to non-discrimination and the right to asylum, in line with the objectives of the IN2PREV project.
To this end, the event benefited from contributions from the International Centre for Counterterrorism, as well as from the Euro-Arab Foundation whose researcher, Lucía Alonso Pérez, provided guidance to help prevent profiling based on discriminatory criteria when conducting risk assessments of violent extremism. The conference concluded with a presentation by the Guardia Civil, which presented the protocols and practices currently applied in Spain to prevent unlawful profiling, followed by an exchange of experiences and reflections with participants from NGOs and law enforcement agencies from across Europe.
About IN2PREV
The European IN2PREV project is a European initiative that started in September 2022 and in which the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies participates as a member, together with partners from Poland, Portugal, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The aim of the project is to facilitate the integration of refugees and asylum seekers and prevent their radicalisation through early identification of vulnerability risk factors. The successful inclusion of refugees as a way to prevent radicalisation is an issue that, despite its acknowledged importance and growing concern, has not received adequate attention and action, and is often addressed through highly securitarian approaches.
Last March, the project brought a seminar to Bratislava to improve the skills of law enforcement and non-governmental organisations working on the frontline with refugees and asylum seekers in preventing radicalisation. Euro-Arab researcher Lucía Alonso Pérez gave a presentation that explored in depth the practices of preventing violent extremism in order to ensure their compliance with fundamental rights and ethical principles. In her intervention, she addressed issues such as respect for human dignity, the right to non-discrimination and privacy, and the importance of guaranteeing access to international protection. In addition, he stressed the need to implement action protocols that prioritise the protection of the rights of refugees, especially those in vulnerable situations.
On April 30, the seminar ‘Spirituality, youth and gender in the 21st century’ was held at the Euro-Arab Foundation. Its main objective was to provide a space for women and young believers of different faiths to share their experience of how they live their spirituality today. The seminar was moderated by Soukaina Belkat and José Luis Salido Medina, researchers at the Euro-Arab Foundation, and was attended by members of Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist faiths.
The activity, organised by the Euro-Arab Foundation in the framework of the European project PARTES, addressed a series of guiding questions on gender and current social dynamics. It was divided into two parts, one dedicated to the role of women in the different religions represented and the other to the experience of young people with their faith.
The role of women in religion
The round table ‘The role of women in religion’ was given by Lola Parras Chica, Tibetan Buddhist and former director of the Nagarjuna Buddhist Centre in Granada; Khatarina Zimmerhofer, Catholic and student of Theology; Zoraida Ali Morell, Muslim, philosopher and psychologist; and Eva Domínguez Sosa, pastor of the Protestant church of San Pablo in Granada, Spain, and Eva Domínguez Sosa, pastor of the Protestant church of San Pablo in Granada.
Lola addressed the situation of women in Buddhism, pointing out the persistence of patriarchal patterns in religions. These patterns are manifested in the allocation of gender roles, such as motherhood, the development of which is influenced by the socio-cultural context. Therefore, Lola argued that not all religious precepts should be accepted uncritically. She emphasised the importance of not naturalising maternal roles that deprive women of time for activities such as meditation. She advocated a stance of zero tolerance towards patriarchy, but devoid of hatred. Finally, she stressed that self-knowledge and deep understanding lead to enlightenment in three fundamental areas: ethics, conduct, concentration-meditation and wisdom.
Khatarina emphasised that baptism confers fundamental and equal dignity from birth. She then elaborated on the Ignatian principle of ‘seeing Christ in one’s neighbour’, explaining how this perspective invites us to recognise the inherent worth of each individual, transcending social or gender distinctions. In her analysis of women in the Bible, she highlighted the central figure of the Virgin Mary, whose role is crucial in the Christian narrative. In addition, she referred to the ‘three Teresas’: St. Teresa of Avila, a leading figure of mysticism and reformer of Carmel; the Venerable Servant of God Teresa de Jesús Jornet e Ibars, founder of the Little Sisters of the Disabled Elderly; and St. Teresa of Avila, founder of the Little Sisters of the Disabled; and St. Teresa of Avila, founder of the Little Sisters of the Disabled, founder of the Little Sisters of the Disabled.
Eva addressed critical feminisms and the perspective of intersectionality, pointing out that we live in a social reality deeply marked by patriarchy and with a significant Judeo-Christian heritage. In relation to the role of religion in the configuration of gender roles, she mentioned how historically some religions instructed women in the essential aspects of carrying out their purification rites, as in the case of Muslim practices. In contrast, she highlighted a significant moment in the Christian tradition where Jesus Christ gave a crucial role to Mary Magdalene by making her the first witness of his resurrection, sending her to announce this good news to the other disciples. This act challenged the social norms of the time and elevated one woman’s witness to a foundational position within Christianity.
Youth and religion. Experiences from today
The second round table “Youth and religion. Experiences from the present day” featured presentations by Isairis Valerio Domínguez, a Catholic and theology student, and Brahim Iguizol, a Muslim, sociologist specialising in anthropology and trends in Islamic thought.
Isairis began his intervention at the table on spirituality and young people by emphasising the importance of coherence between personal values and authenticity. She proposed that the daily examination of spiritual conscience, together with the experiences, should be cultivated in a space of recollection.
She underlined that a pluralistic society offers the valuable benefit of reasoned questioning. In this sense, she advocated ‘resuscitating’ those elements that favour individual spiritual freedom. Isairis contrasted polarisation with the need for deep internal dialogue, pointing out the importance of not giving in to hatred and the discourses that promote it, but embracing a freedom that opens us to connection with others. Finally, she stated that intolerance is rooted in fear, but that society must adopt a critical and reflective stance in order to overcome it.
Brahim suggested that returning to a space of recollection could generate a multiplicity of interpretations, thus encouraging a secular modernisation of spiritual understanding. He proposed the need for a contemporary spirituality that transcends traditional religious institutions, allowing individuals to experience the sacred directly and personally. He also highlighted how Islam can be a tool to combat arrogant selfishness, exploitation and abuse of power, promoting active participation in building a more just society. In his conclusion, Brahim emphasised the imperative need for dialogue, based on the humility to learn from others, in order to work together to solve global challenges. This dialogue requires a framework of equality, devoid of power relations and intolerance.He lamented the inadequacy of current trans-religious dialogue, calling for more interfaith learning and cooperation as a way to mitigate growing social polarisation.
PARTES will end next June
In response to the rising tide of attacks and hate crimes targeting places of worship in Europe and globally since 2023, the PARTES project has emerged as a crucial initiative. Mosques, synagogues and churches have become vulnerable targets, a situation that has been exacerbated by the rise of online hate crimes and cyber-attacks, sometimes intertwined with physical campaigns. These acts of violence are a reflection of a deeper extremist problem, fuelled by toxic discourses, a lack of intercultural and inter-religious understanding, and insufficient societal engagement in preventing extremism.
The seminar “Spirituality, youth and gender in the 21st century” represented the culmination of the project’s activities, preceding the closing event to be held in Vienna on 16 June.
A key achievement of PARTES has been the development of the “PARTES Guardian Approach”, a comprehensive prevention model designed to strengthen the security of places of worship across Europe and thus mitigate hate crimes affecting religious communities. The project has focused on key pillars such as the strengthening of cooperation between public authorities and religious communities, the implementation of awareness-raising campaigns, the organisation of specialised trainings and seminars, and the thorough evaluation and exchange of best practices and tools available in this field. A tangible result of this effort is the “Action Sheets” developed by the PARTES consortium, a valuable compilation of effective practices implemented in the European Union to optimise the protection of places of worship.
José Mª G. Riera (FUNDEA) during the kick-off meeting
The launch of VIRTUOUS, a European project financed by the European Fund for Internal Security in which the Euro-Arab Foundation participates as a partner, took place in Limoges (France) on 19 March. During the event, José Mª González Riera, deputy director of the Euro-Arab Foundation’s Research and International Projects Department, outlined the Foundation’s essential role in the project: analysing past terrorist attacks, identifying threat trends, assessing the security of religious sites, and training religious leaders and security experts. In addition, the Foundation will lead the production of microlearning materials for religious communities.
The central objective is to strengthen cooperation and response to threats to places of worship through collaboration between religious communities, authorities and security forces.
Safer and more resilient environments for religious communities
VIRTUOUS proposes an innovative and multi-faceted approach, establishing an unprecedented collaboration between religious communities, authorities, security forces and security service providers. By integrating cutting-edge technologies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), the project aims to accurately identify vulnerabilities and improve understanding of potential threats. This effort represents a crucial step towards creating a safer and more resilient environment for religious communities in Europe, based on innovation, cooperation and a strong commitment to the values of the European Union.
The VIRTUOUS project is strategically aligned with key EU documents, including the EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda and the EU Security Union Strategy. By prioritising the physical protection of places of worship and fostering inter-religious dialogue, VIRTUOUS contributes directly to the EU’s objectives of ensuring security and promoting inclusiveness in European societies. In addition, the project emphasises the fight against hatred in all its forms, in line with the Joint Communication ‘No place for hatred: a Europe united against hate’, reinforcing its role in upholding fundamental rights and values.
Key Objectives:
In-depth understanding: analyse trends and recurring patterns of terrorist attacks against places of worship in Europe.
Identification of vulnerabilities: Use innovative technologies to assess and mitigate risks in these spaces.
Awareness and preparedness: Develop recommendations, training programmes and strengthen cooperation between stakeholders.
Broadening the scope: Extend protection to educational institutions and community gathering spaces associated with religious denominations.
Interfaith dialogue: Foster cooperation, communication and dialogue to strengthen the resilience of religious communities.
Last Thursday, March 13th, the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies participated in the international conference ‘Artificial Intelligence against Hate and Disinformation’ in Brussels, organized by ALDA (European Association for Local Democracy) and the Hatedemics’ Consortium.
The conference featured the presentation of initial findings from the Hatedemics project, which is developing advanced tools to detect, analyze, and counter harmful narratives, including racism, xenophobia, conspiracy theories, and intolerant discourse.
Lucía García del Moral, a researcher and international project manager at the Foundation, presented the methodological approach for the effective implementation of the Hatedemics Advanced Platform. She emphasized the importance of actively engaging NGOs, CSOs, fact-checkers, journalists, and young activists in the daily use of this tool to effectively combat hate and disinformation.
About the Hatedemics Project:
Following the conference, the Hatedemics project consortium held an internal meeting. HATEDEMICS, funded by the European Commission, aims to combat online hate speech and disinformation. The Euro-Arab Foundation leads the research component of the consortium.
The project’s primary goal is to empower NGOs, civil society organizations, media professionals, public authorities, and young activists to address these issues, with a focus on their impact on vulnerable groups. HATEDEMICS addresses the interconnected nature of hate speech and misinformation in the digital sphere.
This Tuesday took place the official online launch of the ReBel (Redesign Belonging) project, which aims to address the challenges of our society related to solidarity and a sense of belonging by providing a co-creation model that fosters belonging and empowers migrant women who have been in host countries for more than five years. They will be the cornerstone and will collaborate with professional designers to create models and solutions for different contexts in the project’s development countries: Spain, Finland and the Netherlands.
ReBel has a duration of 20 months and is co-financed with 411,455 euros from the European Commission in the framework of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) and will be coordinated by the Finnish university Laurea of Applied Sciences. Together with Laurea, the project consortium includes the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Education (Spain), the international organisation What Design Can Do (The Netherlands) and the VISIO training centre (Finland). The Euro-Arab Foundation will be responsible for carrying out the research and benchmarking part of local, national and international projects focusing on migrant belonging. The results will be used to develop a survey to elicit migrants’ experiences and feelings of belonging.
Spain to host a meeting of migrant women
Euro-Arab will be in charge of the activities in Spain, which will take place in parallel in the other countries involved, bringing together migrant women with local citizens, NGO representatives, local and regional authorities, in workshops where open dialogue between the groups will be promoted. Migrants will be able to present the obstacles they faced, and continue to face, in integrating into the host society, as well as their resilience strategies. NGOs will also have the opportunity to talk about their experiences with regard to employment, education, hate crimes or xenophobia.
These workshops will then be used to develop improvements that both authorities and NGOs can implement in their day-to-day work. In order to involve policy makers, Euro-Arab will organise a roundtable in Spain, which will also include members of the European Commission. The researchers will draft three policy briefs per country which will be made public and translated into the main languages of migrants to ensure their accessibility.
Upcoming events
On 5 July, WDCD will organise an event in Amsterdam where the project will be presented and in September the official presentation in hybrid format (face-to-face and online) will take place in Finland.
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.
On April 22nd and 23rd, the entities associated in the VANGUARD project, financed by the Horizon Europe – Cluster 3 program “Civil security for society” whose objective is to strengthen the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) and in which the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies participates, meet in Milan (Italy).
The Euro-Arab Foundation’s researcher Karen L. Hough participates in the meeting with the paper VANGUARD Road Ahead: Good practices for engagement of relevant actors and THB survivors: status, main activities and next steps, a discussion on cooperation with Civil Society Organizations and THB survivors, and the inclusion of their voices for three purposes: understanding, dismantling and raising awareness.
This second meeting of VANGUARD consortium also addresses aspects such as the current situation of online and offline THB crime and the next steps to be taken, the legal and ethical framework of VANGUARD and the validation of the project tools through pilot. Artificial Intelligence will serve as a tool for detection, identification, investigation and prevention of THB online and offline (e.g. at border checkpoints), applying computer vision and multimodal analysis.
The twenty-two members of VANGUARD consortium are expected to complete in 2026 this project that will enable to tackle one of the most serious transnational crimes, Trafficking in Human Beings, whose most predominant purpose within the European Union is sexual exploitation, followed by labour exploitation1.
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.
The sub-inspector of the Local Police of Murcia and responsible for European projects, José Martínez, and the Prosecutor for Human Trafficking and Foreigners in Murcia, Silvia Benito, present a plaque in recognition of the work carried out by the Euro-Arab Foundation team, Jose María González, responsible for the UNCHAINED and BIGOSINT projects, and Karen L. Hough and Daniel Pérez, researchers at the Euro-Arab Foundation.
With this recognition, the Murcia Police, host of the UNCHAINED training, highlights the good synergies that have occurred in the trainings that the Euro-Arab Foundation and Agenfor have developed this past Tuesday in Murcia, on July 11th, as well as in the training of trainers that took place last February in Venice, which they also attended.
This week’s training in Murcia covered topics such as European judicial cooperation in the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB), as well as practical sessions on the use of the technological platforms OSINT (Open Source Intelligence), HUMINT (Human Intelligence) and FAST for data analysis and monitoring of THB. A specific section on Virtual Reality immersion has also been included.
A moment of the training given this week in Murcia to the Local Police.
Combating Trafficking in Human Beings with a money-tracing approach
The dynamic THB nature and the plurality and complexity of its forms make it particularly difficult to investigate. However, these highly lucrative crimes are very difficult to operate without leaving an economic footprint.
In this sense, the European UNCHAINED project aims to improve the capacity of experts and investigators operating within anti-trafficking, organised and financial crime investigation units to use financial enquiries and macro-data analysis in suspected cases of THB.
Training is also an important part of this project, and work has been done on the creation of a European network of experts and trainers who can maintain the training that has been carried out beyond the end of the project itself.
The UNCHAINED project, led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Padua, is financed by the Internal Security Fund of the European Commission and its consortium is made up of members from Spain, Italy, Greece and Germany.
The researcher Jose María González Riera and Miguel Pérez, inspector of the Local Police of Murcia, holding the plaque awarded to the Euro-Arab Foundation.
Photos: Communication – Local Police Murcia City Council.
