The Observatory for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (OPEV) has been formally established in Catalonia through the formation of a collaboration group that will design an action strategy to prevent major threats of violent extremism at the local level. Conceived as a response of civil society to address current threats, this group consists of a number of entities that share the commitment for justice and social change from complementary fields of work: Institute Human Rights of Catalonia (IHRC), SOS Racism Catalunya, Euroárabe Association, Fundació per la Pau (FundiPau), and NOVACT.
OPEV-Catalonia aims to design an advocacy strategy in the upcoming months, considering the diagnosis of the context as well as the different points of view and experiences that these entities can contribute with. This strategy wants to influence public policies that contribute in the prevention of all forms of violent extremism, to take actions at the educational level, especially in schools, in addition to carry out activities of awareness so to create alternative narratives to the current speeches of hate and discrimination. At the moment, in order to boost the diagnostic phase, current initiatives are being analyzed as, for example, those concerning detection protocols of radicalization in schools, among others.
Globally, OPEV continues to carry out presentations and reports of practices in different countries and events. And, in addition to presentations in Tunisia, Palestine, and Jordan, where also several collaboration groups have been formed (with similar dynamics to the ones just described in Catalonia), OPEV has been presented at various venues in Barcelona, such as the Parliament of Catalonia, a round table on the human rights situation in Tunisia; the human rights course IDHC, and the Mediterranean classroom research IEMED. OPEV was also present at the Violence Urban Forum in Madrid, at the United Against Racism Conference in Prague, and at the presentation of Global Solutions Exchange in Geneva.
With the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council – Directorate of International Relations, the Barcelona City Council, SOC, the Government of Catalunya, the European Social Fund, and the Youth Employment Initiative of the European Union DG Near “The European Social Fund invests in your future”.
