Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft religiös begründeter Extremismus e. V. (BAG RelEx)
Europe@DJHT
The National Committee on Religiously Motivated Extremism (BAG RelEx e. V. ) promotes networking of civil society actors in the field of prevention, disengagement and deradicalization of religiously motivated extremism.
The National Committee on Religously Motivated Extremism or BAG RelEx (abbreviation of the German term “Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft religiös begründeter Extremismus”) is a non-profit body established by 25 civil society organisations in November 2016. Their motivation was to provide those working in Germany and Europa to support democracy and prevent religiously motivated extremism with a platform for networking, knowledge sharing and facilitating ongoing development while also creating a body that would represent the interests of such organisations.
Now boasting over thirty member organisations across Germany, BAG RelEx brings together a broad range of approaches and methods and reflects its members’ long-standing experience in the field. We provide our member organisations with a forum for exchanging expertise and also serve as a point of contact for other institutions and actors in Germany and Europe. The BAG RelEx thus stands for a good practice on facilitating civil society networking and professional exchange, both in Germany and on a European level.
Due to its current sociopolitical relevance, preventing Islamism is the key focus of our work. That is why, in early 2020, we teamed up with Violence Prevention Network and ufuq.de to establish the Competence Network “Islamist Extremism” (KN:IX). In addition, we engage with other forms of religiously motivated radicalisation, addressing the pedagogical and societal challenges they pose. Since autumn 2022, we have also been involved in the multi-agency project PrEval, which was set up to explore issues of evaluation and quality control in extremism prevention, democracy support and political education.