Samenvatting

Since the announcement of the establishment of the Islamic ‘caliphate’ in the Middle East on June 29 2014, the number of people leaving Western European countries to join the ISIS military has dramatically increased. It is estimated that over 1,430 French, around 700 British and at least 180 Dutch nationals made their way to Iraq and Syria between 2012 and 2015. These journeys show that some European Muslims actively support ISIS. They also indicate a potential threat to European security because radicalised Muslims who return from conflict zones can often be dangerous for society, as the most recent Charlie Hebdo, Thalys train and Paris November 13th attacks show. Europe has experienced an increased number of terrorist attacks in this decade and, without doubt, this issue must be taken seriously.
This research considers discrimination against Muslim minorities residing in France, the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands and the relationship between discrimination and radicalisation in these countries. Prejudice against Muslim minorities appears evident from observations of discriminative behaviour in different environments including politics, media, education and workplaces. This report examines religious discrimination as one of the main reasons for Muslim radicalisation, supported by different theories such as F. Moghaddam’s Staircase to Terrorism, Marc Sageman’s Four Stages of Radicalisation and the New York Police Department’s Four-Stage Radicalisation Theory. Another relevant study conducted by Victoroff and Adelman emphasises perceived discrimination, rather than real discrimination, as a trigger for terrorism support.
As the findings of this report suggest that discrimination is one of the main reasons for radicalisation in the West, governmental anti-discrimination policies are also investigated. Discrimination on any grounds is legally forbidden in the European Union (EU), and thus beyond existing EU Directives there is not much to be added in terms of legislation. However, there is still much to be done in real everyday life where Muslims face discrimination. This report proposes an appropriate initiative for national governments to consider, which would be to promote the actions of NGOs in educating young children in schools about cultural and religious diversity. Moreover, this research suggests that it would also be helpful to strengthen the emotional intelligence of society through different educational programmes to teach children to empathise with others who hail from different backgrounds. The main benefit of these actions would be to prevent discrimination by teaching children about prejudice and its negative consequences.