CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

 

Thursday 23^rd June 2016

 

 

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