EU-US effort to prevent terror recruitment

By David Cronin

Date: 03/03/05

A joint EU-US strategy to prevent Muslims from being recruited by Islamic terrorist organisations is being prepared, European Voice has learned.

It follows a blueprint prepared by the Counter Terrorism Group at the Council of Ministers and the EU's Police Chiefs Task Force, which has recommended increased surveillance of mosques, the internet and prisons as these have been identified as hot spots for Islamic extremists seeking terrorist recruits.

But both the EU and US are signalling that the strategy should not be limited to questions of law and order.

An internal Council document urges that the Union make use of its political dialogue with foreign countries to learn more about recruitment of terrorism. A spokesman for the US mission to the EU said: "We want to know the themes of recruitment, the various venues used, the incentives and methods, so we can find ways to counter these efforts through the legal system and through social programmes."

EU diplomats say they are hoping the transatlantic strategy will be ready for the summit of the Union's leaders scheduled for June.

But Muslim rights activists are perturbed that the strategy may help portray all 12 million followers of Islam as extremists. British Liberal Democrat MEP Sajjad Kerim warned against placing mosques under surveillance, arguing this would "institutionalise Islamophobia" and be tantamount to racism.

"If we are seeking to target Islamic extremists, then we need Muslim communities to work with us. We don't achieve this by alienating them," he said.

In the UK, Islamic leaders have sharply criticised remarks by Hazel Blears, the minister for counter-terrorism, who said that Muslims would have to accept as a "reality" that they will be stopped and searched by police more than the remainder of the population.

Yet, though counter-terror searches have risen markedly in Britain over the past few years, most of those affected have never been charged with any offence. Of the 17 people found guilty of terrorism in Britain since 11 September 2001, just four of the 12 whose religion is known were Muslim, according to the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

Mirjam Dittrich from the European Policy Centre suggests that a transatlantic strategy should address the need for education about how recruitment occurs, as well as the integration of marginalised Muslims into society. The US government has funded the University of Maryland to set up a "centre of excellence" to study what can make certain people resort to terrorism.

"This is a good sign as it is one step away from the military thinking the Americans had followed," says Dittrich. "The American side is realising you cannot just deal with terrorism militarily."

A recent Council paper says there has been insufficient experience so far to evaluate the effectiveness of counter-terrorism clauses inserted into accords on trade and political co-operation between the EU and countries in the wider world.

The first such clause was negotiated with Algeria following the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. This has since been accepted as a standard clause for such accords. It commits both sides to exchange information on terrorist groups and their support networks - including how they seek recruits - and the means and methods used to fight terrorism.

The Council document also states that the EU encountered difficulties in convincing Israel that it should give assurances that anti-terror campaigns would respect human rights during the negotiations on an action plan for closer EU-Israel ties as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. It says that EU policymakers are striving to win commitments from the Gulf Co-operation Council (banding together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) that they "will eliminate all means and sources of terrorist financing", especially from charities.

Following a blueprint prepared by the Counter Terrorism Group at the Council of Ministers and the EU's Police Chiefs Task Force, a joint EU-US strategy is being prepared to prevent Muslims from being recruited by Islamic terrorist organisations. The Group's proposals recommend increased surveillance of mosques, the Internet and prisons as these have been identified as hot spots for Islamic extremists seeking terrorist recruits.