On April 7, 2022 the CRTG Working Group hosted an Expert Briefing on Violent Right-Wing Extremism: Children`s Perspectives, Policy and Practice by Mr. Robert Örell, EU Radicalisation Awareness Network. In recent years, Europe and the United States have experienced a revival of militant right-wing extremist groups, networks, and incidents, with a surge of anti-immigration and Islamophobic violence, as well as anti-government attacks and assaults on political opponents, ethnic minorities, and the LGBTQ Community. While this is not a new phenomenon, with a 320% increase in attacks conducted by individuals affiliated with such movements and ideologies over the past five years, as reported by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate Trends Alerts, its current manifestation and scale heighten a sense of insecurity, alarmism and the urgency of designing and implementing comprehensive responses to effectively curb its growing frequency, and lethality. In the pursuit of politically motivated aims, right-wing extremists, drawing on international networks, ideas and personalities, continue to mobilize others and demonstrate an exceptional capacity to spread propaganda, magnify their message and ultimately outreach and recruit children and youth. The demographic of supporters of white supremacist, national socialist, neo-Nazi and other related groups embracing similar ideologies is increasingly younger. The rising tide of right-wing extremism and its leverage on children and youth calls for an identification of the factors driving radicalization as well as pathways to effectively support their disengagement.

The CRTG Working Group equips policymakers, professionals and practitioners with the tools necessary to understand and respond to violence against children in terrorism. We build support for good governance that enables child protection in terrorism. We engage directly with a range of stakeholders to seek and share information, build awareness and encourage positive action for children.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a series of recommendations to policy-makers and practitioners responsible for preventing and countering child radicalization to Right-Wing Extremism (RWE). This guidance is the result of shared insights, lessons learned, practical examples and policy recommendations from the joint meeting between the CRTG Working Group and Mr. Robert Örell. It is divided into the following five sections: (i) the right-wing extremist environment; (ii) rehabilitation and reintegration programs; (iii) prevention programs; (iv) family assistance; (v) gender considerations.