Advice center for radicalization

The Advice Center on Radicalization is an advice service offered by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees , primarily for relatives, but also friends and teachers of young Muslims in Germany who are turning to Islamism . The position was set up on January 1st, 2012 as part of the security partnership initiative , which aims to prevent young people from becoming radicalized any further. The Federal Ministry of the Interior finances the free consultation .

Approach and goals

The advice center follows the approach of reaching young people not directly, but through their environment. There is no direct contact with the young Muslims. The idea behind this is that the social environment is most likely to notice radicalization and is also indispensable for “deradicalization”. You have two goals in contact with parents : First, you want to counteract their uncertainty in dealing with their children by providing appropriate information. Second, an attempt is made to influence the young people through the relatives. The prerequisite for this is that there is still contact with the family and that the young people have not completely withdrawn from their social environment.

Working method

The first contact with the counseling center is via a telephone hotline , which those seeking advice can turn to. In an initial conversation, questions can be answered and it can be clarified whether further advice is necessary. If necessary, personal discussions with local consultants can then take place on site. These advisors (e.g. social pedagogues , Islamic scholars , imams ) should accompany the relatives in dealing with the radicalized. The advice center works with other civil society actors such as the advice network Grenzgänger , Violence Prevention Network , VAJA Bremen and the Center for Democratic Culture . Contact with the security authorities only takes place in exceptional cases, if a danger emanates from the radicalized person. Otherwise the discussions are confidential. In addition to German, advice is also available in English, Turkish, French, Arabic, Persian, Russian and Uzbek.

Reactions

A poster campaign was designed to make the Radicalization Advice Center known to the public. Four of the six associations involved in the Security Partnership initiative then discontinued their cooperation under protest, as the ministry had not responded to the associations' reservations and concerns. The posters criminalized the target group because of their similarity to wanted posters.

The counseling itself reaches many of those affected. The advice center had received around 950 calls by mid-2014 - most of them from North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg . Most requests for advice could be processed on the phone without on-site advice.

The concept of the deradicalization hotline was also implemented in Austria on December 1, 2014. The establishment there is not part of the Ministry of the Interior , but is subordinate to the Ministry of Family in order to keep the inhibition threshold for a phone call as low as possible. Advice is provided anonymously and free of charge in five languages. Unlike the German hotline, it is intended to prevent not only Islamist but also other extremist radicalization.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Radicalization Advice Center campaign launched. ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report from the Federal Ministry of the Interior dated September 4, 2012. Accessed December 30, 2014.  
2. ↑ Belief or Extremism? Brochure from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees . Retrieved December 30, 2014.
3. ^ The advice center for radicalization in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Flyer Violence Prevention Network . Retrieved December 30, 2014.  
4. ↑ Advice center on radicalization. Website of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees from January 2, 2012. Accessed December 30, 2014.
5. ^ The "Advice Center for Radicalization" and "Hayat". Report from the Federal Agency for Civic Education dated June 30, 2014. Accessed December 30, 2014.
6. ↑ Cooperation partner on site. Report from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees , last viewed on October 13, 2015.
7. ↑ Belief or Extremism? Brochure from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees . Retrieved December 30, 2014.
8. ↑ Campaign of the Ministry of the Interior outrags Muslims. Article dated August 30, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
9. ↑ Calls for help at the Radicalization Advice Center are increasing. Article dated December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
10. ^ The "Advice Center for Radicalization" and "Hayat". Report from the Federal Agency for Civic Education dated June 30, 2014. Accessed December 30, 2014.
11. ↑ Government wants to intensify prevention. Article dated December 1, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
12. ^ Advice center for extremism - advice, prevention, intervention. Homepage of the Extremism Advice Center. Retrieved December 30, 2014.