NRW wants to protect young people from Islamism with live chat
The North Rhine-Westphalian state government has updated its "Wegweiser" prevention program against Islamism. The service, which was set up in 2014, is now being launched with a live chat function. This makes NRW the first federal state with such an online chat option, said the head of the NRW Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jürgen Kayser, at the presentation in Düsseldorf on Wednesday. The new chat function is intended to reach young people who already sympathize with the Islamist scene.
It is also about preventing people from joining the scene, explained NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul: "Unfortunately, we are seeing these days that parts of our society are longing for an Islamist theocracy." Prevention must start where radicalization begins. "This is happening more and more on social media these days," warned Reul. "There, our young people receive extremely dangerous input quickly via the newsfeed."
In addition to the website, "Wegweiser" will also be available on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook in future. Posters, search engines and apps will also be used to draw attention to the advice service.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the chat is anonymous, confidential and free of charge. Users' dates of birth, names and IP addresses are neither requested nor stored. This means that young people can also access the chat nationwide. Since the program was launched in Düsseldorf in 2014, 1,500 people have already received support, Kayser reported. Seventy percent of those seeking help were under the age of 18.
The more than 80 advisors working in shifts include social workers, educators, Islamic and social scientists, who can also be reached in the evenings and at weekends thanks to the new chat function. The service is also aimed at people who are in contact with affected young people, such as employees in schools and youth facilities.
In NRW, there are reportedly advice centers in Essen, Wuppertal and Cologne, among others. In addition to the "Wegweiser", a "drop-out program Islamism" is also offered for people who want to leave this scene.
Internal security measures in North Rhine-Westphalia aim to safeguard young people from the lure of Islamism, recognizing that radicalization often occurs via social media. The new live chat function of the "Wegweiser" prevention program, designed to reach sympathizers of the Islamist scene and discourage youth from joining, is a confidential and anonymous service accessible nationwide.
Source: www.dpa.com
