Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the EU is taking to counter extremism and radicalisation in (a) the Middle East, (b) South Asia and (c) Africa; and in what way the Government is contributing to those steps.

Mr David Lidington

The EU invests significantly in counter-extremism and -radicalisation. The UK supports and is actively involved in shaping the EU’s comprehensive approach which includes political dialogue led by HRVP Mogherini, wider development assistance, CSDP missions, human rights-based security sector reform, conflict prevention and resolution, support for research and analysis, and support to national efforts to develop Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) strategies. The UK also works with the EU through the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) Working Group, with the EU co-chairing the Horn of Africa Working Group and UK co-chairing the CVE Working Group. A key joint effort here is addressing the whole lifecycle of radicalisation through capacity-building in priority countries.

It is not possible here exhaustively to list every step the EU is taking to counter extremism and radicalisation in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, but examples include:

On (a) the Middle East, the EU is establishing CT Action Plans (including CVE) with priority countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

On (b) South Asia, the EU seconds a security/CT expert to assist in Pakistan.

On (c) Africa, the EU is supporting the development of a Somali national CVE strategy.