Geneva, Oct 3 (IANS) Several human rights activists, politicians and experts gathered in Geneva earlier this week to discuss the effects of radicalization being felt in Europe and South Asia as extremism, anti-semitism and terrorism, as well as indoctrination of youth, become more rampant.
The side-event organised on the margins of the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) saw the participants discussing indoctrination of children in Bangladeshi madrassas, the abduction of minority girls in Pakistan, and the Taliban’s suffocating restrictions in Afghanistan.
Himanshu Gulati, a member of Norway’s Storting – the Norwegian Parliament – captured the scope of the threat.
“Rising Islamic extremism is a worrying trend, be it in South Asia or in Europe,” he warned. “Today we see conflict in the entire Indo-Mediterranean region in a strongly interconnected world. While terrorism from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Yemen doesn’t only affect their own regions, it also echoes back in the rights and future of vulnerable groups, especially women and children in Europe as well. We have to find a solution to protect the weakest among us,” he said.
Gulati highlighted how the rising Islamic extremism has become a huge concern for everyone in the world.
“It’s impacting the Indo-Mediterranean region and whether such terrorism happens in Manchester, as we just saw, or in Pahalgam, or in Yemen, or in other parts of the world, we see that this is interconnected and it also is connected back to our own continent, Europe, where vulnerable women and children are also being affected. This is a threat against humanity. It’s our common responsibility as a decent world, as a civilized world, and as democracies to combat such terrorism in the fight for good against evil,” he added.
Anna Maria Cisint, a member of the European Parliament, described what happens when political Islam dominates.
“In countries where political Islam holds power, fundamental rights are systematically denied: equality between men and women is erased, and political and civil freedoms are restricted. Islamic theocracy is the vehicle used to impose a message contrary to the principles of dignity and freedom,” she said.
Cisint’s warning was not limited to distant regimes.
“Political Islam also carries with it a declared will to conquer and impose Quranic laws on Europe, with the aim of undermining democratic institutions and replacing the foundations of our civilization with the dictates of Sharia. The signs, now evident, can be seen in the serious episodes of women subjugation we witness every day in our cities, where young girls and adolescents are forced by their families to live inside Islamic cages. Europe, if it wants to remain a continent of civilization and freedom, must firmly defend and protect its founding principles and values, and there can be no room for radicalization,” asserted the European Parliament member.
The signs are evident in grooming gangs exposed in the UK, radical networks in France and Germany, and families enforcing restrictions on daughters in the name of tradition. Too often, authorities have looked away out of fear of being called discriminatory, the analysts reckoned during the event.
“We cannot tolerate grooming gangs in Europe and threats to our women and children … We cannot any longer tolerate complacent European elites, police and media trading safety and security for multiculturalism. We cannot tolerate extremists in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other country treating women worse than animals or the oppression of minorities,” said Erik Selle, a European advocate for women’s rights and child protection.
The experts mentioned that extremism thrives where elites hesitate, where institutions are weak, and where the suffering of women and children is treated as collateral damage.
“The Indo-Mediterranean is the key geopolitical region for trade and transport of goods, however it is the most affected by the wars around. As we near the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, we have understood better that terror is interconnected, from Iran to Lebanon, from Yemen to Syria. However we are also not immune. It is the same terrorist organisations that fundraise in Europe, radicalise youth and plan terrorist attacks in India,” said Vas Shenoy, the President of Glocal Cities.
–IANS
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