Tag: hatecrime

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News PARTES-COM EN

The Euro-Arab Foundation takes part in a European Panel on the Protection of Places of Worship and Religious Communities

On 12 December, the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies took part in the online panel “Protection of Places of Worship and Religious Communities as Critical Infrastructure”, organised by the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip) in cooperation with the University for Continuing Education Krems (UWK) and the European project PARTESS-COM.

The panel brought together researchers and practitioners from different European countries to analyse the current threat environment affecting places of worship and religious communities, which are increasingly exposed to acts of extremism, hate crime and ideologically motivated violence. In this context, religious spaces were addressed as critical infrastructure requiring greater attention in terms of security and resilience.

The Euro-Arab Foundation was represented by José Luis Salido, researcher and project coordinator who highlighted the importance of comprehensive prevention approaches based not only on physical security measures, but also on soft security strategies, community engagement, and improved communication channels between religious communities, local authorities and security actors.

During his presentation, Salido analysed the current global threat landscape and presented the results of a study based on the analysis of 25 hate crime case studies across 13 European countries, highlighting that places of worship and related spaces have become critical targets. Salido delved into the ideological and strategic characteristics of the extremist groups perpetrating these attacks, warning that the transition from hate speech to physical aggression is a growing concern that demands a coordinated response between local authorities, national governments, and European Union institutions

The participation of the Euro-Arab Foundation in this panel reinforces its commitment to applied research, intercultural dialogue and the prevention of violent extremism, in line with its work on European projects focused on social cohesion and democratic security.

The panel was held within the framework of the European project PARTESS-COM, an initiative funded by the European Commission in which the Euro-Arab Foundation is a partner. The project aims to improve the protection of places of worship and religious communities against terrorist and extremist threats by fostering cooperation, communication and trust among religious actors, public authorities and security forces. It promotes preventive and participatory approaches, as well as the development of practical tools and recommendations to strengthen security without compromising fundamental rights or social cohesion.

More information about the event:
https://www.oiip.ac.at/events/online-panel-discussion-protection-of-places-of-worship-and-religious-communities-as-critical-infrastructure/

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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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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

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 Hatedemics News Projects

Pilot Test of HATEDEMICS AI Tool in Coria del Río

Young people, teachers, and educators will gather next Thursday, October 23, at the Museum of Andalusian Autonomy in Coria del Río to participate in the pilot test of the HATEDEMICS project. This initiative, in which the Euro-Arab Foundation is involved, aims to develop tools to combat hate speech.

A Two-Session Day

The initiative will take place over the course of a day divided into two training sessions.

  • In the morning, from 10:00 to 13:00, the activity will be aimed at a young audience.
  • In the afternoon, from 16:30 to 19:30, the session will be specifically geared toward teachers and educators.

The event will offer attendees the opportunity to learn first-hand about the tools being developed to identify and confront hate speech in various contexts. This pilot is a key step in the implementation of the project, and its results will help refine the strategy and materials ahead of the official launch.

The Museum of Andalusian Autonomy, an emblematic site for Andalusian history and culture, thus becomes the setting for this important educational and social initiative, highlighting the importance of education and dialogue in the fight against hate.

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation Addresses Misogynistic Violence and Incel Communities at International Anti-Discrimination Conference

On June 12nd, Murcia hosted the International Conference Against Underreporting of Discrimination and Hate Crimes. Organized by Columbares, this conference was a crucial event for addressing the concerning reality of low reporting rates in cases of discrimination and hate crimes.

The event’s opening featured Rosa Cano, director of Columbares, who emphasized the urgency of combating intolerance in light of the worrying underreporting data. Also present were Ana Vanesa Valero García (Vice-Rector for Continuing Education at the University of Murcia), Leopoldo Olmo Fernández-Delgado (Secretary-General of the Ministry of Social Policy, Families, and Equality for the Region of Murcia), and Pilar Torres (Councillor for Social Welfare, Family, and Health for the City of Murcia). The Director-General for Family Diversity and Social Services of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and Agenda 2030, Patricia Bezunartea Barrio, participated remotely.

One of the standout presentations at the conference was given by José Luis Salido Medina, a researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation, titled “The Violent Face of Misogyny: Manosphere and Incel Communities.”

During his presentation, the researcher delved into the incel movement, exploring its origin and context within the ecosystem of misogynistic movements and the so-called “manosphere.” The talk critically addressed the intrinsic relationship between hatred and violence, examining the common elements that underlie both and how these manifest specifically in the case of incel communities. Finally, Salido offered a concise reflection on a prevention paradigm specifically applicable to addressing misogynistic movements and the incel phenomenon, highlighting the importance of proactive strategies to combat these violent ideologies.

The conference also served as the platform for the presentation of the book “Breaking the Silence.” The result of research by Columbares, the book compiles testimonies from victims of hate crimes in various contexts (public spaces, social media, homes) and addresses topics such as LGTBIfobia, aporophobia, and racism. These accounts offer deep insights into the victims’ experiences, their reporting processes, and the consequences on their daily lives.

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News SHIELDed EN

New European project to protect places of worship, schools and religious communities

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.

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

Euro-Arab and HATEDEMICS analyse hate speech and disinformation online with NGOs, journalists, fact-checkers and public authorities

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies has organised two meetings with fact-checkers, journalists, NGOs and activists to address hate speech, disinformation and digital environments. These meetings are part of the European project HATEDEMICS: Hindering hate speech and disinformation through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technologies, which aims to strengthen preventive and reactive measures against hate speech and disinformation online. To this end, the project aims to empower NGOs/CSOs, fact-checkers, public authorities and youth to effectively prevent and combat polarisation, the spread of racist, xenophobic and intolerant discourses, as well as conspiracy theories, by adopting a perspective focused on multi-agency collaboration, artificial intelligence, social networks and youth, as well as comprehensive care for victims and affected communities.

The first meeting took place on 17 July from 12pm to 2pm at the Euro-Arab headquarters in Granada. The discussion group was made up of activists, representatives of civil society and NGOs with expertise in hate speech, disinformation and digital environments and new technologies. The debate was divided into several topics, on which each participant intervened and shared their experiences and knowledge from their area of expertise, such as the definition of ‘hate speech’, the current legislative framework or how political parties or civil society deal with hate speech, disinformation and conspiracy theories.

The second meeting took place on Wednesday, 24 July from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in an online format and brought together a group of journalists, information verifiers and a representative of law enforcement agencies to analyse the current challenges presented by the instrumentalisation of information for purposes that may represent hate crime and motivate conspiracy narratives. They also discussed the information verification tools they use, the legal framework for action and the resources available to combat hate speech and disinformation online.

The Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies is a non-profit institution that works to promote dialogue and cooperation between Euro-Arab societies. The Foundation develops research, training and awareness-raising projects in different areas of specialisation, with a special focus on the promotion of human rights, interculturality and peace. It is in this work that it participates in the HATEDEMICS project funded by the European Union and where it is responsible for the research work package, in charge of defining the approach, the socio-technical requirements and the methodology.

HATEDEMICS project website: https://hatedemics.eu/

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News

We participate in the round table on Islamophobia organised by the Qatari government in Doha

Conferencia sobre islamofobia en Catar el pasado año, 2023

The Deputy Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies, Bárbara Boloix Gallardo, is travelling to Doha to participate in the roundtable ‘Combating Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism: New Grounds for Understanding and Policy’, a conference that will take place on 9-10 June in the Qatari capital and has been organised by the Department of Policy Planning of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The conference will be divided into six sessions, with the first and second sessions exploring current narratives of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and questioning how they should be addressed. The third session will address the challenges facing the media in the fight against racism.

The second day of the conference will open with the fourth session dedicated to the opportunities and perspectives of the fight against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in history, art, society and culture, where the Deputy Secretary of the Euro-Arab Foundation, Arabist and Doctor in the History of Al-Andalus from the University of Granada, will speak.

This will be followed by the fifth session, which will address the intersection between Islamophobia and anti-Semitism from geopolitical and historical perspectives, and will end with a concluding debate that will explore new joint approaches and the way forward.

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EUKH EN News Projects RADICALIZACION EN

We participate in the RAN YOUNG meeting where youth take the floor to confront polarisation and hate speeches

The third meeting of the RAN Practitioners Young Platform, the platform of young people, experts on radicalisation and prevention of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network, took place in Zagreb (Croatia) on 2nd and 3rd May. Among the participants was Euro-Arab Foundation researcher Daniel Pérez García who together with the other young people explored the local impact of global challenges, such as war and international conflicts, on European youth and created proposals to mitigate the different repercussions on themselves and their communities.

Daniel Pérez García, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation, participates in RAN Young Practitioners

The recommendations revolved around four themes: mental health, polarisation, hate speech and hate crime. The Euro-Arab researcher was part of the hate crime group, which addressed how hate speech and hate crimes can precede atrocities, including genocide, or the use of social media and digital platforms as facilitators of the spread of hate.

The meeting concluded that hate speech, along with misinformation, leads to stigmatisation, discrimination and violence on a large scale, and emphasised the need not to underestimate the influence of global conflicts on individuals that can even lead to collective trauma.