f esposito e - european forum for urban...
TRANSCRIPT
1
1
European Forum for With the support of Pilot project for Victims of Terrorist Acts 2005 Urban Safety European Commission - Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security
SecuCitiesCities against Terrorism
Training local representatives in facing terrorism
Final Conference - Conclusions
Brussels, 10-11th Septembre 2007
2
The fight against terrorism – a local issue?
1. Defining the local level Different forms: provinces, regions, departments,
counties, prefectures, cities or communes.The way the state is politically organised (federal,
centralised), the capabilities of each local authority and the resourcesavailable to them all make the involvement of local authorities in thefight against terrorism varied.
Example: The UK
1) County and district councils2) Unitary, metropolitan and city councilsThe role of central government is to specify the frameworkfor action(Civil Contingencies Act 2004)
2
3
The fight against terrorism – a local issue?2. The role of local actors in the fight against terrorism
Cities, the favoured targets (A. Blin)a) Concentrated human populationb) International populationc) Political and economic (capital) centres
Cities, strategic places to organise an attack(H-J. Kerner, M. Coester and K. Bott)a) A hub for recruitmentb) An organisational, technical and financial platformc) Terrorist groups’ strategic withdrawal
Cities as actors in the international system (FESU)a) Resolution 159, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
(2003), The Council of Europeb) New York, Madrid, and London as symbols of the fight against
terrorism
4
The fight against terrorism – a localissue?
3. Modern terrorism: global and local perspectives Terrorism = an attack or the threat of an attack toinfluence the government or a governmental organisationin order to further a political, religious or ideological cause(The British Terrorism Act 2000/2006)
Modern Terrorism: global aim (systems of political andreligious values) and local action (symbols of their values)
3
5
The fight against terrorism – a localissue?
4. The fight against terrorism: the importance of the past Terrorism has always been present and does not onlyaffect Western democracies(A. Roberts) We must be able to learn from the lessons of the past,even in cases where the conflict’s origin and context aredifferent – Northern Ireland (A. Greer) Links between international terrorism and Nationalistmovements confirm the importance of past strategies infighting this phenomena (C. Schori-Liang).
6
Area 1 - Prevention andcommunication
1. Key elements for preventiona) Prevention as a compliment to reaction policy (H. Shaftoe)b) Prevention Policy: collecting information, distributing
information, protecting buildings, intercommunitydialogue, education
c) Managing multiculturalism: learning to “live together”d) Prevention Strategy: forming a working partnership between
the authorities and the citizense) Examples: - Bund-Länder-Projektgruppe (G. Störmer)
- BIRGIT
4
7
Area 1 - Prevention andcommunication
2. Communication: from providinginformation to appeasing
a) Promote consistent information to avoid anytensions
b) Use an information system that can passinformation to all involved people and provideeasy access for the public (J. Strutton)
8
Area 2 – Crisis managementA co-ordinated approacha) Distinguishing between natural disasters and terrorist attacks
b) The “multi-agency” approach: the British example (fromintegrated emergency management to the Civil ContingenciesAct)(S. Webster)
c) A special case: The German Red Cross
(R. Wizenmann)
d) The importance of the regional level in Poland(G. Kamienowski)
e) The Portuguese example: strengthening the role of nationalgovernment for civil protectio (M. João Ribeiro)
f) The Belgium case: the integrated approach (L. Ysebaert)
5
9
Area 3 – Intercommunity dialogue1. Working together to prevent terrorisma) The problem of how to involve all members of the
community (J. Baradell)
b) The role of women in resolving conflicts (E. Pais)
2. Relations with the Muslim communitya) The issue of co-operation between the police and the
Muslim community: the German example (M. Azzaoui)
b) Protecting places of worship: the example ofSomerset “Minority Faith Protective Security Initiative”(P. Nash and D. Aplin)
c) The escalation of violence amongst young Muslims: abalanced approach (A. Shaikh)
10
Area 4 – Victim support
The importance of the individuala) Categorising victims and considering their socio-
cultural context: an essential issue
(L. Kolesnikova)
a) Defining an integrated plan of action (with area 2)
b) The importance of psychological support
(M. John, G. da Silva, B. Brito)
6
11
ConclusionsI. NATIONAL LEVELPolitical Action1. Recognise the value of the local level in the fight
against terrorism2. Address the fight against terrorism through a multi-
level approach, which includes prevention, crisismanagement, intercommunity dialogue and victimsupport
3. Develop a national/local legislative frameworkwhich identifies and defines the role of local peoplein the fight against terrorism and promotesdecentralising decision-making processes
12
Conclusions
I. NATIONAL LEVEL
Political Action4. Strengthen co-ordination during operations, on the
one hand between local and national authorities(vertical dimension), and on the other between thedifferent local authorities (horizontal dimension)
5. Create a legal status for the victims of terroristattacks
7
13
ConclusionsII. LOCAL LEVEL A. Prevention - Communication - Dialogue6. Strengthen the socio-cultural dimension in prevention
policy7. Develop training programmes for front line actors in
order to facilitate intercommunity dialogue8. Develop and maintain dialogue with members and
representatives of the Muslim community9. Strengthen the powers of the local police to make their
actions more effective and legitimate10. Create an information system which everyone involved
can use
14
Conclusions
II. LOCAL LEVEL
B. Crisis management11. Develop a co-ordinated approach which involves
all the concerned people in the form of a workingpartnership
C. Victims12. Psychologically support victims of terrorist attacks
in the short, medium and long term
8
15
ConclusionsII. LOCAL LEVELD. Training13. Improve the training of local actors involved in thefight against terrorism (authorities and the local police)on the following points :
- Dealing with the geopolitical issues associated withterrorism
- Improving social knowledge on members ofterrorist groups and young people in particular- Developing monitoring systems to analyse theinternational character of terrorist networks involved atthe local level
16
Conclusions
III. EUROPEAN LEVEL14. Develop a European directive which strengthens therole of local authorities with regards to the fight againstterrorism in the EU
15. Create a European Civil Protection System from theexisting EU structures
16. Form a panel of European experts to supervise thelocal authorities as they launch their anti-terroristmeasures
9
17
For more info about the project,please contact:
Mr Frédéric Esposito at:tel: +41 22 379 86 37 (Geneva)
Ms Roxana Calfa at:tel: +33 140 64 49 10 (Paris)
EFUS website: www.fesu.org