Rights defenders name ways to combat radicalization in Northern Caucasus

To reduce the impact of radical ideas on residents of Northern Caucasus, the authorities of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria should use a more creative approach, participate in solving family conflicts and support youth projects, says the report of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre released today.

The report "Is it possible to prevent new radicalization waves in Northern Caucasus?" analyzes the main factors that contribute to radicalization in Northern Caucasus, and describes the methods to prevent extremism and terrorism practiced by the authorities of those republics, where the problem of the armed underground "was acute in the recent past," namely, in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre and the author of the report, has explained.

She has explained the relevance of the report by the fact that in Northern Caucasus "the relative calm is temporary." "Federal and local authorities need to carry out systematic work to eliminate the factors contributing to radicalization. Otherwise, the preventive work will lead to cosmetic changes, while new waves of armed violence will be difficult to prevent," the rights defender has stated.

In particular, to reduce people's interest in extremist ideas, they should provide psychological family consultations and help people in solving family conflicts, conduct training courses on the prevention of radicalization for teens' parents, and support the non-profit organizations that deal with this topics, Ms Sokiryanskaya is convinced.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 30, 2019 at 02:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.