NIACRO

NIACRO’s practice is located at the Hate Crime end of the spectrum of radicalisation and violent extremism, and can be evidenced in three projects. These are detailed below but essentially could be described as di-versionary, community capacity building, engaging with perpetrators and utilising the experiences and in-sights of proxy and actual victims. The practice across these three projects is based on casework, group work as well as community development. The practice has a strong connection to overcoming legislative, structural and attitudinal by engaging a wide range of social actors.

As stated previously NIACRO has developed practice across three areas dealing with prejudice and hostility. Northern Ireland is still emerging from a period of intense and prolonged conflict which is still continuing in alternative but still physically violent manifestations. NIACRO has continually made the point that the radicalisation discourse does not sit comfortably in the Northern Ireland context. It is still a society that experiences significant amounts of violence based on prejudice and hostility on a daily basis. NIACRO deals with these issues on many levels as described above but the language of exit strategies such as de-radicalisation and disengagement are not used in Northern Ireland.

• Base 2 and STEM. These two projects are interlinked and deal with individuals and families who are under threat because of their race. The approach can be described as emergency intervention, development of host communities with respect to their capacity to host people from different ethnic backgrounds. The STEM element seeks to improve the social inclusion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, removing barriers to integration and encouraging participation in society.
• Challenge Hate Crime – the approach of this project is holistic and follows the logic of open – process inter-vention work as opposed to cognitive behavioural training. It is based on voluntary participation, informed intervention, engages in individual casework, narrative methods and involves victims of hate crime either directly or by proxy through restorative processes if appropriate.

As stated above Northern Ireland does not use the language of countering radicalisation as directly and ex-plicitly. However, NIACRO does deal directly with the causes of having armed paramilitary groupings and has a history of working with these groupings, their political wings and governments in terms of dealing with the NI conflict and its outworking.

Contact details:

4 Amelia Street
Belfast
Northern Ireland BT2 7GS
United Kingdom

Pat Conway – Director of Services
Tel: (+44) (2890) 320157