Dutch MP leading fight against religious extremism

GroenLinks parliamentarian Naima Azough was appointed the Netherlands' new special rapporteur on religious extremism. Up until the end of the year, her job will be to identify what works and what doesn't in the fight against radicalization and extremism in the Netherlands, ANP reports. The GroenLinks politician was appointed at the request of Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Science and State Secretary Martin van Rijn of Public Health, Welfare and Sports. Azough will investigate exactly how youth welfare workers, health professionals, community police officers, teachers and parents go about preventing vulnerable young people from isolating themselves from Dutch society. She will investigate which methods are most effective and report her findings to the involved Ministries. She will also investigate whether it is possible to recognize extremism at an early stage and to do something about it. According to a spokesperson for Van Rijn, good experiences and bottlenecks will be compiled and discussed with experts so that "the conversation between child welfare workers, social workers and education professionals on the matter can be stimulated", he said to the newspaper. The findings will also be shared with other European countries.