Skopje, 7 December 2024 (MIA) - The country is monitoring the situation regarding radicalization and incitement to extremism, on various grounds. There are attempts to incite religious radicalism, but they are not so concerning. Ethnic nationalism incited in one way or another by the parties is critical, as was unfortunately confirmed by the recent incidents involving the flags. In general, Macedonia is currently not threatened by extremism and terrorism, National Coordinator for Prevention of Violent Extremism and Countering Terrorism, Pavle Trajanov, said in conversation with MIA.

As head of the National Committee which is to monitor and analyze the situation with the prevention of violent extremism and countering terrorism in the country, his task is to coordinate, participate and direct the activities of a total of 22 state institutions involved in the implementation of the National Strategies for Prevention of Violent Extremism and Countering Terrorism as well as the action plans.

Twenty-two institutions are part of The National Committee, including the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the National Security Agency (ANB), the Intelligence Agency, the Ministries of Justice, Education, Labour, and the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions. The Committee is in the process of establishing its new staff, as all institutions have nominated new representatives.

"The Ministry of Interior, the National Security Agency, the Intelligence Agency, and the Military Intelligence are on the front line of dealing with violent extremism and countering terrorism. They collect and process sensitive information and cooperate with all Balkan countries, as well as with powerful foreign services. These are broader everyday activities, which are not only related to returnees. The Council of Europe is directly involved here, which has a special project on penal treatment of returnees, the OSCE is involved with special programs for training institutions, as well as equipping. The EU is also involved here, with which we have a joint plan of activities, in fact, all Balkan countries have signed an agreement on activities and a new plan for the next four years is currently being drawn up. There is also the IOM - the International Organization for Migration, which is involved in all these activities," Trajanov noted.   

In addition to state institutions, he pointed out it was important that non-governmental organizations are also involved in preventive activities. There are large international foundations that cooperate with the non-governmental sector, which have a soft approach to all these issues, because all other institutions are mainly repressive, although they have preventive activities.

Non-governmental organizations, he says, are involved in preventive activities such as preventing possible radicalization and extremism, conducting training in schools, in municipalities, as well as other wide-ranging activities. Some of them are also involved in reintegration of returnees. They work under the Program and in coordination with the National Coordinator. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and have access to some sensitive information. In total, about 20 organizations are involved, but 10 are more actively engaged, working on prevention, conducting trainings on how to recognize hate speech, radicalization, they train young people to recognize fake news, incitement to religious radicalism, etc.

"Attempts are present in our country, but they are not so concerning. However, ethnic nationalism incited in one way or another by the parties is critical, as was unfortunately confirmed by the recent incidents involving the flags. It is currently the most dangerous in Macedonia, where certain parties constantly say that an ethnic community is threatened because of language or other issues. Hearing this every day incites radicalization and this can be the basis for extremism, violent extremism or terrorism. Therefore, the responsibility is great for all structures in the state, especially for those who have responsibility to recognize all these activities, to prevent them. We are a fully functional state and all these activities can be reduced," the National Coordinator said. 

He points out that this involves a large number of activities, including monitoring the impact of the fighting in the Palestinian territories, the war in Ukraine, how Russian propaganda is unfolding, and how information and disinformation are being distributed, a significant portion of which is distributed through social networks.

"Religious radicalism used to be more pronounced, but now the influence of religious communities is very small. The Islamic Religious Community (IRC), the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) and other religious communities are involved in many action and local teams in the prevention of violent extremism. The National Committee includes a representative from the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities and Groups (CRRCG). We also hold meetings with religious communities on this issue, regarding radicalism. So officially everyone is involved in the prevention plan," Trajanov points out. 

He adds that there are attempts by people who studied abroad to exert influence, while the influence of the Wahhabis is linked to the activities in Bosnia during the conflict, which then spread to Macedonia. However, he notes, the influence is now weakening and interest has subsided.

"Basically, religious communities are officially included in the Prevention Plan. In general, Macedonia is not currently threatened by extremism and terrorism. There are some gradations, and the threat from terrorism is at a very low level," says Trajanov.

Rehabilitation and reintegration of returning foreign fighters 

As regards the threat to the country's security from returning foreign fighters, he says that all returnees have been under treatment by the state. A strategy for the prevention of violent extremism and a strategy for countering terrorism and special standard operating procedures are in place. They define all the entities involved in phases, communication between services, and the exchange of information, in order to prevent their re-radicalization.

"Currently there are 11 people who are still serving their sentences. There is treatment protocol for all of them - admission, guided procedure if there is evidence, serving the sentence, followed by reintegration in society. All of these phases include expert teams of psychologists, pedagogues, from all services, especially from the social work centers. They are engaged in talks from the moment a person arrives in the country, and the conversations determine the treatment. In addition, six to nine months before release from prison, an expert multidisciplinary team in conversation with the person to be released, as well as with family members, determines whether the person has resocialized. Basically, that system is well-established, it works and offers appropriate treatment for everyone," Trajanov said. 

One of the problems, Trajanov points out, is in terms of the housing of returnees in prisons. Namely, the strategies call for special treatment and separate housing for them, but there are no conditions for that.

"And this is not only the case in Macedonia, but also in other countries. They are housed in prisons with other prisoners and the dilemma here is what their influence is, whether they can spread extreme ideology and recruit new potential extremists, radicals who would join foreign paramilitary formations or have some kind of activities here," Trajanov notes. 

Tracking terrorist financing

In the area of ​​terrorist financing, National Coordinator Trajanov points out that the Financial Intelligence Agency tracks such transactions, which also includes the services of the Intelligence Agency, ANB and MoI. However, he adds, it is a very complex operation to obtain evidence of how it is carried out, what its purpose is, especially now with digital money - bitcoins. Yet, he notes that there is a special program to track terrorist financing, and it involves all these institutions. 

"In all the analyses and current data, the Western Balkan countries, almost all of them, have said that it is a complex process, and it is very difficult to detect it. There is some initial information about an attempt at financing, etc., but we do not have, and neither other countries have, concrete charges for criminal liability over terrorist recruitment financing. This is regulated in our country and amendments to the Criminal Code are now underway, whereby the section on terrorist financing will be covered more precisely. So we have a system, it should work," Trajanov said. 

He pointed out that in this area the country has support from foreign partners who provide training, coaching, computer systems for tracking transactions..., because without the cooperation with them, the state cannot track such financial flows.

"The services are being improved so that they can track this very complex process, but I do not have any data on how many procedures are currently underway," said Trajanov.

The issue of the status of children of returning foreign fighters 

Children of foreign terrorist fighters born in ISIS-controlled territories face a number of complex and serious challenges, one of which is the issue of citizenship, as they lack birth certificates or other legal documentation. This complicates efforts to prove their identity and nationality, making it difficult for them to return to their home countries or seek protection under international law.

The Macedonian Young Lawyers Association – MYLA, with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has been working on the issue of statelessness since 2010. MYLA provides free legal assistance to persons for registration in the birth registry and participates in the preparation of all laws that concern determining the legal identity of persons, which are aimed at resolving the issue of statelessness.

Violeta Gerov

Translated by Nevenka Nikolikj

Photo: MIA/MIA archive