Ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak at this event today. I am
particularly grateful to Dr. Maura Conway of DCU for extending this
invitation to me.
In 2013, Dr. Conway will recall that Ireland held the Presidency of the
Council of the European Union. In the course of that Presidency she had an
opportunity to set out the aims of the VoxPol project to the Member States.
It was also during the term of that Presidency that Ireland commenced a
revision of the Union’s Strategy for Countering Radicalisation and
Recruitment to terrorism, in which the obvious ongoing need to address the
online dimension to radicalisation was recognised.
The VoxPol project has a very specific focus on drilling into the detail of
the phenomenon of online radicalisation. Of course the online space plays
a role in radicalising individuals to violence – that is undeniable. If
nothing else, the internet and social media provide a mass medium for
propaganda on a scale and with a sophistication never seen before.
But exactly how this impacts on individuals, in what circumstances and to
what extent are key questions to which, frankly, we don’t yet have all the
answers.
Or is it that the impact of the internet and social media in terms of
radicalisation is a more personalised, individual affair that operates more
at the level of tapping into one-to-one experiences?
We need to get a much better understanding of the phenomenon and that can
only be addressed by dedicated, long-term research.
That is where all of you come into the equation.
We will all recall the spirit of hope for a democratic future that the Arab
Spring offered to many millions across North Africa and the Middle East.
The reality has, unfortunately, turned out very differently. The
instability created by the overthrow of regimes has been exploited by
extremists and we have seen appalling bloodshed.
In particular, we have witnessed the ongoing tragedy of civil war in Syria
and the rise of the Islamic State, a group set apart by its particular and
peculiar appetite for unspeakable levels of violence and oppression, the
inhumanity of which, on occasion, leaves us speechless.
The consequences have been far-reaching. We have seen appalling bloodshed,
not only but principally in Iraq and Syria. We have seen also a migration
crisis of historic proportions.
Over the course of that period we have seen also the rise of the phenomenon
of young men and women, radicalised by many means and travelling to train
or participate in conflict with extremist groups. These ‘foreign terrorist
fighters’ as they have become known have fallen prey to the violent
ideology of Islamic State or groups like it who, like Al-Qaeda before them,
have hijacked faith to justify brutal self-interest.
And it was perhaps sadly inevitable that some of these individuals would
return home, radicalised, trained and motivated to commit violent attacks.
Extremism is no longer an abstract problem that happens somewhere else.
It’s here.
In recent years we have seen sophisticated, pre-meditated and shocking
attacks by groups of radicalised people, notably the recent attacks in
Paris and Brussels. We have also seen indiscriminate acts of violence by
lone, self-motivated actors such as the recent brutal killing of a French
police officer and his wife. These attacks have involved individuals who
have claimed the ideology of Islamic State as their motivation.
But we must, of course, recall that not all of this violence is perpetrated
by people motivated by conflict in the Middle East. We have seen also a
rise of the extreme xenophobic or nationalistic tendency. The cold and
calculated mass slaughter of innocent Norwegians by Anders Breivik and the
tragic mindless murder last week of the British MP, Jo Cox, point up a
radicalisation to violence motivated by a different ideology, but one that
is no less founded in hatred.
It is firmly recognised at European Union level that addressing this
problem is not only a matter of deploying the traditional policing and
security approaches to countering terrorism. Measures such as these are
entirely appropriate and necessary in the context of keeping our citizens
safe in the face of the current terrorist threat and will continue to form
a key part of our response to the threat faced.
The actions we take in co-operation with our EU colleagues must strike a
balance. While we must respond to the migration crisis with humanity and
respect for fundamental rights – these are core values for us – we must
also ensure that we can protect our borders from abuse.
We must enhance our security response by increasing the resources devoted
to it, particularly by develop smarter systems for the greater sharing of
intelligence and information in order to seek to prevent attacks. At the
same time, the kind of society that we want to protect is one that values
privacy and free expression as basic rights and we must be extremely
careful that we do not unnecessarily impinge on those freedoms.
The decentralised and almost individualised nature of the current
international terrorist threat and how it has evolved and is motivated
requires a broader response to support security measures and, perhaps, asks
deeper questions of us as a society.
Questions that touch on
- how we treat and integrate minority communities;
- how and whether our traditional social values and organisation are
open to change and evolution that respects and embraces minorities;
- how we can work against social and economic disadvantage that may
tend to isolate communities or individuals;
- and how any and all of these factors can make some more vulnerable
than others to being preyed on by extremists.
And yet it must be recognised that the vast majority of people simply wish
to go about their lives in peace and to make a positive contribution to
society. They do not support or resort to violence. They value democratic
principles and the freedoms that they underpin.
Whether it is our majority or minority communities, we must be extremely
careful to ensure that none should be stigmatised by the actions of a few.
There is always a risk that the freedoms and rights we strive so hard to
protect can become eroded by the very measures that seek to preserve them.
The task that faces us in that regard is writ large in the area of
information and data sharing for police and security services, and how that
can be facilitated and enhanced while at the same time guaranteeing privacy
and data protection.
There is significant work at EU level in this area – it has been a constant
theme for my discussions with colleagues at Justice Ministers’ meetings and
it will continue to be an area for activity in years to come. However,
proposals to improve information sharing – such as the EU Passenger Name
Records Directive that will allow air travel reservations records to be
used to combat serious crime and terrorism – are always elaborated with
full concern for data protection, privacy and proportionality.
Indeed, all these proposals are founded in the Data Protection package
recently agreed at EU level that will provide a modern data protection
framework which will give citizens enhanced confidence that the protection
of their personal data is regulated clearly, robustly and proportionately,
especially when it is used by law enforcement for combating crime and
terrorism.
As I said earlier, the online space has also become a major propaganda
platform for international terrorism and for radicalising individuals to
violent acts.
How people communicate has changed in ways I could never imagine when I
first became involved in politics. And this revolution in communications
has allowed people to access and communicate information in positive ways
but has also allowed those with malicious motives to do the same.
It is not acceptable that the preaching of hatred and incitement to
violence should go unaddressed in this forum. There is a strong
realisation of the need for governments and the major tech companies and
internet service providers to work together on this issue. This
partnership will be crucial to our efforts to create a safer online
environment, because it is our young people and the most vulnerable in our
societies that are most susceptible to those preaching hatred and violent
radicalisation.
That said, all of our efforts in this field are much better served and
stand better chances of being effective if they are supported by all of
your efforts in this field. Empirical research that takes a long-term and
interdisciplinary approach can help us to identify with much more certainty
exactly what are the factors that are involved in online violent
radicalisation.
As I said earlier, this is where all of you come into the equation.
Effective policies can be built on credible research. Without an
understanding of the nature of the problem we restrict severely our chances
of developing effective remedies to it.
In that context I very much welcome Ireland’s involvement in this project
and in particular the valuable contribution being made by Maura Conway and
her team at Dublin City University.
I know you have a number of very eminent speakers at this event and a
number of valuable workshops designed to encourage and stimulate debate on
this issue. I hope you will find this event of enormous benefit to your
work in this area. The value of your work to Europe and elsewhere should
not be under estimated. We have a serious problem to deal with and the
work you are doing is an important part of the solution to it.
I wish you every success in your endeavours. Thank you.
ENDS