Vilvoorde mayor to brief Washington security summit

Hans Bonte, the mayor of Vilvoorde, just outside Brussels, has been invited to Washington, DC, to give the keynote address at a global security summit called by US president Barack Obama. Bonte will explain to the summit on 18 February the need for action to fight the radicalisation of young people.

Relative to its population size, Belgium is one of the main sources of young people leaving to go fight in Syria, and Vilvoorde is one of the cities most affected by the problem. According to the British think-tank International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 440 people from Belgium have joined militant Sunni organisations in the Syria/Iraq conflict, almost 50% more than when they were last counted at the end of 2013.

Twenty-eight young men from Vilvoorde are among them, five of whom have been killed and eight of whom have returned.

The Washington summit was called following the attacks on the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris last month. Bonte will explain that early detection of radicalisation is key to his approach, and a relationship of mutual trust is required with the Muslim community. “If you want parents to be able to report their own radicalised son or daughter, then you have to be sure your door is always wide open,” he told De Standaard.

In Vilvoorde, alderwoman Fatima Lamarti and council member Houari El Hannouti are working to form this bridge to the community. The city also has a group of “super-committed young people” who work within the community to combat radicalisation.

“The positive side to this situation is that, after two years of work, literally everyone is now aware of the problem,” said Bone. “Aid workers, shops and businesses, teachers, the mosques and so on.”

Once a young person has been identified as vulnerable to radicalisation, the approach is to attempt to strengthen those bonds with family and the wider community that the recruiters have tried to break, explains Jessika Soors, the city’s official in charge of deradicalisation.

“We always look at the context and try to work first and foremost with regular aid providers to straighten out whatever has become twisted,” Soors said. “The final aim is that the young people feel respected again.”

Photo courtesy De Standaard