Violent Extremism

Baroness Suttie Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Grand Committee

[Baroness Suttie (LD)]

My Lord, I too would like to congratulate my noble friend Lord Purvis of Tweed on securing this extremely important debate. If I may say so, the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, illustrates the amount of thinking that needs to be done on this subject. It affects this country, as well as beyond. I declare an interest as a vice-chair of the APPG for the British Council. I refer noble Lords to my interests in the register in relation to my work in the MENA region, as well as to my visits to the region in the context of this inquiry.

Like my noble friend Lord Purvis, I should like to thank David Warburton MP, who so eagerly chaired the inquiry and to pay particular tribute to Siobhan Foster-Perkins and Zafran Iqbal from the British Council—who are present this afternoon—for their work in tirelessly steering this inquiry towards its conclusions, and for doing so much of the spadework in producing the excellent report we are discussing.

At the beginning of this British Council APPG inquiry, we spent quite a lot of time analysing the nature and causes of violent extremism. The reasons are multiple and complex. Although unemployment and poverty can be major factors, there have also been examples of perpetrators coming from fairly middle-class backgrounds. Indeed, the causes often have as much to do with issues of identity and psychology—often relating to a background of trauma and mental illness—as they do with economic impoverishment or religious fanaticism.

One of the core findings of the inquiry, as other noble Lords have said, is that an effective approach to tackling violent extremism should pay particular attention to programmes and interventions that tackle the underlying causes of radicalisation at source. In other words, prevention is better than cure and interventions to build resilience in potentially vulnerable communities are a much more effective approach.

The APPG report makes several specific recommendations on targeting economic, civic and social factors. Given the time constraints this afternoon, I shall concentrate my remarks on the importance of education and educational reform. It is perhaps a paradox that in the extremely well-educated populations of north Africa, unemployment is particularly high among the graduate population. That alienation can become particularly dangerous in a highly educated, but seemingly underappreciated section of society.

I remember speaking to a young Tunisian university lecturer at the British Council’s annual Hammamet conference, who explained to me his frustration that there was such a mismatch between the education system provided and the skills currently required for his country to move forwards. Research shows that critical thinking and the development of soft skills can play a pivotal role in building resilience to violent extremism. Projects such as the British Council’s Young Arab Voices programme, which does so much to assist young people in their English language skills, while simultaneously developing their critical thinking and debating skills, are the kind of low-cost, positive initiative that can make a serious difference on the ground.

Increasing funding for young leadership programmes, such as the excellent Chevening scholarships, allows young people from the region to benefit. I hope the Government will give serious consideration to the report’s conclusion on increasing the intake of Chevening scholars from the MENA region.

Can the Minister say in his concluding remarks whether the Government support the conclusion in the report that the British Council should be supported by the Government to play a stronger role in education reform in the region—not least through additional funding for specific work of this type, working closely with the Ministries of Education in the region?

In my remaining remarks I will say a few words about anticipating future areas of recruitment for violent extremism, rather than, as so often sadly happens, reacting post fact to where the recruiters have already done their work. We know it is not a coincidence that countries with high levels of conflict and large numbers of displaced people and refugees, as well as the refugee camps themselves—like the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson, I have also visited these refugee camps in Jordan—can be fertile recruiting grounds for violent extremism. What measures are the Government taking right now in Iraq and Syria, as well as in the camps situated in neighbouring Jordan and Turkey, to support young people and to provide training and skills development for alternative pathways? Finally, what plans do the Government have to enhance British Council and other programmes in regions such as central Asia, where support now to help to develop young people’s skills, as well as for educational reform, could have such a beneficial impact?