"Improving religious literacy and methods of information influence when working with the population to prevent religious extremism and terrorism"

On May 18-19, 2021, the Department for Religious Affairs of the Akimat of the North Kazakhstan Region held a 2-day training seminar "Improving religious literacy and methods of information influence when working with the population to prevent religious extremism and terrorism", which was attended by heads, specialists of the internal policy departments of the districts and the city of Petropavlovsk and members of information and explanatory groups on religious issues of the region.

Opening the seminar, the head of the department, Roza Kasenova, noted that the situation in the religious sphere of the region is currently stable, but there is an active preaching activity of individual representatives of religious associations and in this regard, it is necessary to strengthen explanatory work. She also stressed that according to the methodological recommendations of the KDR of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it is necessary to focus on the work in the selected target groups, based on the level of risk, in order to explain the state policy in the field of religion, as well as to receive feedback from the population.

The seminar addressed the issues of legal liability for illegal missionary activities, identifying signs of extremists and the methods they use to involve people in their networks, and how to protect themselves from the intrusive actions of individual representatives of religious organizations.

All participants spoke about the relevance of this seminar and suggested that similar training should be conducted on a quarterly basis.

The event ended with an exchange of opinions and a weekend survey.