Right-wing extremism is on the rise, and the fight against it is not possible without the involvement of the state

“The National Strategy for the Prevention and Countering of Terrorism focuses on Islamist extremism, ignoring right-wing extremism, which is more relevant here,” BCSP Deputy Director Bojan Elek said in his introductory speech.

Alain Ancion, a regional coordinator for security issues in the Western Balkans from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sarajevo, emphasized that the Netherlands is a reliable partner in combating terrorism and recognizing resistance factors in the Balkans, as well as building the rule of law.

“Extremists in Serbia are controlled by political actors and used to keep citizens in a constant state of tension and to pass on values to the next generations,” said Izabela Kisic, executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.

Kisic stresses the fact that there is no ethical or political condemnation of war criminals as a problem, and the dominant political narrative from the 1990s remains, which directly affects the radicalization of young people, resulting in the marginalization of Albanian and Bosniak communities.

Jarmila Bujak Stanko, a psychologist, stated that there are no official programs for the prevention of extremism in Serbia or processes of deradicalization of convicted extremists. There is a will in communities to help in the process of deradicalization, but they lack the knowledge and the resources. There are no institutions that families can rely on, and families themselves do not know how to deradicalize members.

“Programs aimed at preventing extremism were initiated by non-governmental organizations, and these programs are short-term and project-founded, so they cannot make much progress,” claims Bujak Stanko.

Marija Ignjatijević, a BCSP researcher, listed three groups of factors of resistance to extremism, which they have discovered by researching the example of Sandzak, whose community has shown a high level of resistance to extremism in the last few years. The most important factors are the role of the local community and the role of prominent members of the community, as well as the role of the diaspora.

Ignjatijevic emphasized the importance of initiatives and activities of civil society organizations because these examples showed how even small actions can cause a great impact on strengthening resilience.

“Political divisions in Sandzak are very deep, there is a threat of political extremism, although they have shown resistance to religious extremism,” Ignjatijevic stated at the end of her presentation.

Nikola Kovacevic, a lawyer, stated that the law on the criminal procedure is solid and that it enables efficient detection and prosecution of foreign fighters. The disadvantage of these procedures is that there is no effect of general prevention because the procedures are not transparent enough.

The main problem that Kovacevic identifies is that the fighters who went to Ukraine on the battlefield have much more favourable treatment than those who went to Syria.

“No one questioned whether there were organized training courses and  networks for going to the battlefields in Ukraine,” Kovacevic said.

Predrag Petrovic, director of the BCSP research, notes that the debate on Islamist nationalism in Serbia has overshadowed right-wing extremism.

“The immediate consequences of anti-immigrant narratives are mostly felt by migrants themselves, but there are also those long-term, but less visible consequences – the impact on the attitudes of citizens,” says Petrovic.

Petrovic points out that members of the Islamic community in Belgrade do not feel safe, and that they often feel forced to practice their faith in secret so as not to endanger themselves.

The roundtable was jointly organized by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights and the National Convention on the EU, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the National Endowment for Democracy.