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EMN Conference on Unaccompanied Minors ,
Deradicalisation and Prevention Work ,
The panel participants from left to right: Alexander Gesing (IFAK e.V.), Florian Endres (Advice Centre on Radicalisation, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees), Dr. Michael Kiefer (Osnabrück University), and chair Milena Uhlmann (Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees).
Source: BAMF
Specific Vulnerabilities of Unaccompanied Minors
Alexander Gesing of the Counselling Network "Anschluss" of the Association for Multicultural Child and Youth Assistance (IFAK) e.V.) from North Rhine-Westphalia spoke in favour of a differentiated perspective on unaccompanied minors, especially when it comes to radicalisation of these minors. They would not only be vulnerable, but they would come to Germany with motivations, skills, and interests.
Gesing then introduced the work of the counselling network, which takes a systemic approach to helping people who are seeking advice. Relatives, teachers, and social workers would often be the ones to seek advice. Persons from the social circle of the potentially radicalised person that come to seek advice are often unsure or unaware of when behaviour patterns indicate pious living and when they indicate radicalisation or when Islam and Islamism is involved, respectively. The counselling centres constantly work on raising awareness in this regard. Here it would be important to note that only a small share of the refugees for whom concerns of possible radicalisation might arise are actually islamist radicalised.
Alexander Gesing, Counselling Network 'Anschluss', Association for Multicultural Child and Youth Assistance (IFAK) e.V.
Source: BAMF
“There is a great deal of uncertainty in social work when it comes to issues of religion and radicalisation.”
Alexander Gesing
Gesing identified multiple influencing factors that could constitute grounds for radicalisation, including occurrences related to the country of origin, to the phase of displacement and flight, and to the time since arrival, with only a fraction of these factors, however, being specific to the context of displacement. Influencing factors could include family conflicts, separation from the family, socialisation, mental illnesses, experiences while fleeing, lack of social relationships, long periods of waiting for a decision in an asylum procedure or the family reunification, as well as the search for meaning and identity associated with young people. Discourse in the media can also convey general distrust and unsettle people; as can a feeling of never really settling in and being accepted. This gives recruiters from the Islamist scene starting points for establishing contact with young people. They draw them in by providing simple answers that help ground young refugees in a complex world and at the same time erode their process of settling in in Germany.
If indications of radicalisation are confirmed, the classic approach to deradicalisation called for in social work is to strengthen other social relationships with people such as the person’s parents, siblings, teachers, and social workers or in the context of a sports club for example. This can, however, be very difficult in the case of unaccompanied minors in particular, since they sometimes have no social circle in Germany to begin with.
The "Anschluss" counselling network is developing new strategies for deradicalisation work with refugees
The new pilot project “Anschluss” financed by the Advice Centre on Radicalisation at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees addresses these challenges and develops new strategies. One strategy would be to start early and work preventively. To this end, religious radicalisation would, however, also have to be a topic discussed during the course of pedagogical training. Specialised expertise must also be applied to case work and religious belief must be discussed in youth groups, possibly even with the engagement of external expertise as well. Social workers sometimes shy away from the topic of religion. Young migrants must also be empowered to form and develop a "transcultural identity" and they must be supported and bolstered in their search for identity.
Pilot projects of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in the Context of Refugees and Radicalisation
Florian Endres, Head of the Advice Centre on Radicalisation, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
Source: BAMF
Florian Endres, Head of the Advice Centre on Radicalisation of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees then introduced the work of the advice centre. With its counselling hotline, it generally serves as the first point of contact for family and friends or other concerned persons from the social circle of the people who are thought to become radicalised. In an initial conversation, the advice centre determines what the situation is and, in cases that radicalisation has taken place or in which the situation needs to be further clarified, forwards the case to one of nine advice centres mostly run by civil society actors spread across the Federal territory. As a central development, Endres pointed to the reduction in the age of people, due to whom contact is sought with the advice centre as a main development. While the average age used to be 20 years, it is now at below 18 years of age. A second observation concerns the origin of the radicalised persons. It is by no means a problem that is limited to refugee or migration experiences. Rather, about 50% of the counselling cases involve people who have converted to Islam. The cases being worked on are also generally concentrated in a few Länder where the Islamist scene is active. Further, a psychological abnormality is also identified for seven to eight per cent of the cases processed.
“Radicalisation isn’t just an urban phenomenon. It can also occur in more rural areas.”
Florian Endres
The issue of radicalised unaccompanied minors as a whole is becoming more central, also because, for example, Salafist actors are specifically targeting this group when promoting their groupings and interpretations.
The Advice Centre on Radicalisation is the first point of contact nationwide for concerns regarding possible radicalisation
Following the attacks in Ansbach and Würzburg in 2016, there was a dramatic increase in the calls received by the counselling hotline. Of the total of around 4,000 calls received by the advice centre’s hotline in 2012, about 500 concerned refugees, of which 267 involved unaccompanied minors. Half of those were then referred to the network to take further care. Even here, a local review often reveals that radicalisation is not involved, but rather pious living that is interpreted as radicalisation by those in the person’s social circle out of ignorance or uncertainty.
Handling Radicalisation Cases within the German Youth Welfare System
Dr. Michael Kiefer, Institute for Islamic Theology (IIT), Osnabrück University.
Source: BAMF
The topic of radicalisation is accompanied by a series of misunderstandings, as Dr. Michael Kiefer from the Institute for Islamic Theology at Osnabrück University confirmed at the beginning of his presentation. At the fundamental level, “radicalisation” would be a product of a societal negotiation process. It is clearly identified in cases of criminal offences or blatant rejection of constitutional principles. But otherwise, radicalisation is also defined by “where the centre is formed in a society”. During the course of this negotiation process, there would generally be a series of misinterpretations and misjudgements on various levels.
At the same time, it also remains very difficult to bring clarity to the issue. For instance, if a pupil has videos on his or her phone in Urdu, there might not be a responsible person at the school who speaks Urdu and can properly assess the content of the videos in case of doubt. School social work also plays an important role - as a reliable social contact point for example - but here too there continue to be challenges. Understaffing and a lack of resources make it difficult to ensure the sustained availability of social workers at numerous schools. Furthermore, many social workers at schools are not trained to recognise radicalisation tendencies. In the individual case, it is also important to clarify whether or not mental illness is the problem instead of religious radicalisation. It isn’t always easy to tell the two apart. Dr. Kiefer calls all this an "obstacle course of barriers" in deradicalisation work, as is also the case in other areas of youth work. It is therefore important to establish reliable communication structures between the various actors in the municipality, ensure that social workers obtain the proper qualifications, and keep track of responsibilities through case management so that the case is monitored sufficiently from beginning to end.
“A good headmaster won’t immediately go to the national security agency, but rather will first try to resolve the issue internally, for example with school social work or turning to one of the advice centres.”
Dr. Michael Kiefer
The growing number of rejected asylum applicants and the lack of prospects for the affected persons arising from this would also offer fertile ground for radicalisation tendencies to thrive. “The radicalisors from the radical Islamist scene aren’t stupid,”
Dr. Kiefer pointed out, “they are good at identifying young people in such situations and reaching them.”
From a deradicalisation and prevention perspective, it would therefore make sense to oppose the planned AnkER-centres that are to accommodate asylum applicants awaiting a decision, since they would essentially provide breeding grounds for radicalisation, according to Dr. Kiefer.
Participants of the conference.
Source: BAMF
In subsequent discussion with the audience, the focus of youth and prevention work on young refugees was criticised. The specified risk factors offering optimal conditions for radicalisation would ultimately mostly be identical to the influencing factors that could also be observed in young people growing up in Germany. The risk is that the label of “deradicalisation work within the context of refugee migration” may have a stigmatising effect, which could fuel general scaremongering, according to a participant from the audience. She instead suggested associating deradicalisation work generally with the structures of the child and youth welfare system and to strengthen it that way. Gesing backed this up - he too would prefer that the youth welfare system, especially with respect to the work with refugees, be better financed and staffed. This would make pedagogical work possible in the first place, so that better infrastructure for youth welfare could also have a preventative effect, even though youth welfare generally would not operate under this label. The podium debaters emphasised that the phenomenon and work described here within the refugee context were only a small part of the prevention and deradicalisation work being done and that a good 50% of all cases of “radicalisation” reported to the advice centre involved converts.
At the end of the panel discussion, there was another appeal by a participant. Her current observations would indicate that established work on establishing social relations to and for young refugees has been unravelled by budget cuts in past years, meaning that reception facilities were closed and residents redistributed elsewhere, for whom the familiar social environment and local structures provided security and reliability. Social workers at the new location then would have to start all over again from the beginning at a time when they already would feel as if they had been left high and dry and many of them would simply leave the welfare organisations out of frustration. Even "the voluntary workers who have helped out for years gradually experience burnout", according to the participant.
Pagination
Content
- European Cooperation and Integration
- Cross-border cooperation at EU level
- Accommodation and Care Arrangements
- Deradicalisation and Prevention Work
- Adulthood – and then?
- Ressources, Time and Professionalism