(Feb. 26, 2018) In a speech given on February 23, 2018, the French Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, announced a national plan against Islamic radicalization. (Edouard Philippe, Prime Minister of France, Address before the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR): Présentation du Plan national de prévention de la radicalisation [Presentation of the National Plan to Prevent Radicalization] (Feb. 23, 2018) (video and transcript), Gouvernement.fr website.) The plan consists of sixty measures to better identify potential Islamic radicals and intervene before they turn against French republican principles. (Jean-Baptiste Jacquin, Le gouvernement lance un plan tous azimuts de prévention de la radicalisation [The Government Launches an Across-the-Board Plan to Prevent Radicalization], LE MONDE (Feb. 23, 2018).) The main proposed measures include
- improving the detection and segregation of radicalized inmates in French prisons,
- providing improved psychological counseling for and monitoring of young French minors returning from Syria and Iraq,
- removing government agents (especially members of law enforcement and the military) who have been radicalized,
- improving the monitoring of religiously affiliated schools,
- working with mental health professionals to find better ways to detect and deal with radicalized individuals,
- working with social network providers to ensure the removal of illicit content within an hour of posting,
- developing educational tools to fight against conspiracy theories on the internet, and
- creating a scientific committee to better understand the phenomenon of radicalization and find ways to more efficiently counter it.
(Jean Chichizola, Déradicalisation: les principales mesures du plan gouvernemental [Deradicalization: The Principal Measures of the Governmental Plan], LE FIGARO (Feb. 23, 2018).)
This plan fulfills a promise that was made in September 2017 by President Emmanuel Macron. (Jacquin, supra.) It is also part of an ongoing effort by the French government since at least 2014 to fight terrorism and radicalization. (Chichizola, supra.) Countering radicalization is viewed as a priority in France, which has seen several high-profile terrorist attacks over the last few years, and where close to 20,000 individuals have been flagged by the authorities as potentially radicalized. (Jacquin, supra.)