Assessment of the National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation and Extremism by the Ministry of the Interior

Abstract

The Ministry of the Interior coordinates preventive work against violent extremism nationally, and the work is divided between several actors. The current National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation and Extremism from 2016 lists the measures and the authorities, organisations and communities participating in the work. The plan is built around measures that are discussed in more detail later in this assessment. The Action Plan contains goals that are intended to be reached by various measures. Responsible parties have been appointed for the goals of the plan, and their task is to ensure the implementation of measures.

The measures, the short-term goals and the focal actors and the cooperation forums working with the subject are introduced in this assessment. In addition, the successes and challenges of the plan are assessed and recommendations for the upcoming National Action Plan are given. Besides national cooperation, local cooperation, especially in locations where a local network works for the prevention of violent radicalisation and extremism, has been assessed.

The most successes in the assessment were observed to be the multi-professional cooperation and the participation of associations, the aim for structural measures as well as the emphasis on the significance of researched information. The biggest challenges were detected in the gaps and in the exchange of information between actors, the assurance of the association funding and its discontinuity as well as in the awareness of the phenomenon taking into consideration the different levels of the preventive work. The recommendations given in the assessment focus on meeting the challenges found.