Increase in radical Islamist tendencies among girls in Germany
Jihadists are increasingly using young girls to advance their goals and programs. According to statistics in Germany, Muslim girls are increasingly being influenced by Salafist propaganda and becoming radicalized.
In Germany, the radicalization of Muslim girls is on the rise. This claim is supported by a report by the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper based on statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The report states that the agency is continuously registering an increasing number of cases of Islamic extremism and that the tendency of young people, especially girls, to radicalize is undeniable.
In the past, the proportion of girls in such consultations was one in four, but in 2015 this figure was halved, and this trend is increasing in 2016. Since 2012, when the relevant department opened a consultation hotline in this regard, more than 2,500 contacts have been registered.
According to estimates by Michael Kiefer, from the Institute for Islamic Studies at the University of Osnabrück, the age of inclination towards extremism among young girls in Germany has reached 13 years old, and this threshold is also decreasing.
Kiefer says that unlike boys, who express their extremism through provocative and overt behavior, girls' radical approach is quieter.
In Germany, radical Muslims are increasingly traveling to Iraq and Syria to join terrorist groups such as ISIS. The German Federal Security Service says there were 850 of them in 2013, a fifth of whom were girls.
The advertising audience of the selfies
"The fact that girls absorb radical messages more quickly is due to the crises and needs of puberty and the differences in the transition period between girls and boys," religious education expert Andre Taubert told the Neue Osnabrücke Zeitung.
He says that selfies can easily meet the needs that girls have to show their growing up and overcome the problems of their youth: "In their propaganda, they focus on the problems of youth and teenagers, things that other political groups have nothing to do with."
Research by German experts also shows that the tendency towards radicalism among young girls exists in every social class and is not specific to a particular stratum. For example, some of them grew up in non-religious or secular families, others in Christian families or non-traditional and secular Muslim families.
Andre Taubert says that girls who become extremists rarely come from conservative and fanatical families: "Someone who was raised in a home where Islam was part of their daily routine is not a good carrier for extremists because they have learned the complexities of the faith gradually and in a different way and are not easily influenced by the temptation of dry religious interpretations."
Youth education experts say that, along with personal connections, the Internet and social networks also play a significant role in increasing extremism.
Michael Kiefer from the Institute for Islamic Studies at the University of Osnabrück says that WhatsApp is the most central communication tool in this context: "Those girls and women who travel to Syria have been in contact with groups organized on WhatsApp on a purposeful basis."
Ban: DW
