Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen appointed as chairwoman of Nordic Safe Cities

Categories: News
Udgivet: 15 May - 2020

Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen, director of the Institute for Strategy at the Royal Danish Defence College and renowned international scholar of terrorism, is appointed new chairwomen of Nordic Safe Cities.

Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen is the previous head of department in the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, where she helped outline the Danish strategy against violent extremism – a strategy that builds on a close relationship between the police and the Danish municipalities. She will bring both valuable academic expertise and practical experience within preventative efforts and counterterrorism to Nordic Safe Cities.

As a chairwoman, she will lead 19 Nordic cities’ activities for ensuring safe cities, by preventing violent extremism, hate and disinformation.

“The Nordic countries have unique conditions for preventing violent extremism. We live in welfare states characterized by high levels of social trust and with strong government agencies.  But extremist movements and ideologies continuously adapt and do not respect national borders. This highlights the cruciality of greater collaborations, such as within Nordic Safe Cities. We, who live in the Nordics, must stand together and unremittingly challenge both ourselves and each other, in order to facilitate new operations within preventative work. It is a great privilege to now be a part of these efforts”, says Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen on her new role as chairwoman.

Nordic Safe Cities was initiated by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2016, and today operates as an independent NGO.

“I see Nordic Safe Cities as a highly well-functioning collaboration, which has, during the last couple of years, developed to a strong alliance of cities across all five Nordic countries. This development, from being a prioritized project within Nordic Councils of Ministers to now being an alliance driven by the cities themselves, underlines the need for close Nordic cooperation in order to generate safety and security across both national and municipal borders. Therefore, I am particularly delighted that such a strong authority as Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen will now enter the role as chairwoman, and herein contribute to promote Nordic Safe Cities’ important work of building safe cities”, says the Nordic Council of Ministers’ General Secretary, Paula Lehtomäki.

“The Nordic countries have unique conditions for preventing violent extremism. But extremist movements and ideologies continuously adapt and do not respect national borders. This highlights the cruciality of greater collaborations, such as within Nordic Safe Cities.”

There is particularly strong need for international and Nordic cooperation in times like these, where democratic values such as freedom of speech, equality and trust are being challenged in many parts of the world. Concurrently, we are witnessing large amounts of propaganda and misinformation online, and frustration over the current Covid-19 situation is actively being used by extremist groups to spread fear and undermine the democratic systems.

“Right now, it is more important than ever that we in the Nordic Countries stand united in the fight against extremism, as the Corona crisis makes us all, and not least the youth, particularly vulnerable. We have a strong collaborative platform in Nordic Safe Cities surrounding our common challenges within extremism, and by cooperatively developing new concrete actions, we will become even better at reaching those on the verge of society or those that might fall into extremist and violent communities”, states Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, employment and integration mayor in the city of Copenhagen.

This view is supported by Norwegian mayor Lisbeth Hammer Krog from Bærum, who recognize the importance of a united Nordic alliance after the terror attack that struck the city in August, last year.

“In the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attack on Utøya on the 22nd of July 2011; we all said: «Never again». And yet it did happen in Bærum, last year. It is a strong reminder that this is continuous work, that must be expanded. The Nordic Safe Cities network represents such a continuous activity. And most importantly, it signals unity in this difficult, but not hopeless, task.”

“The threat from violent extremism is today more complicated than ever before. Consequently, it is necessary for cities to strengthen resilience by collaborating, sharing knowledge and experiences, and acting together. This is particularly true in the Nordic countries, as many cities face similar challenges. Stockholm is consequently proud to be a part of Nordic Safe Cities. The preventive efforts in countering violent extremism and hate constitute one of the greatest societal- and safety challenges of today. It is, therefore, our ambition to strengthen the alliance and our common objective of creating safe Nordic cities”, declares Stockholm’s Mayor, Anna König Jerlmyr.

Jeppe Albers, founder, and executive director in Nordic Safe Cities adds:

“I am very happy that we have managed to attract such a great capacity as Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen to lead and develop our alliance over the coming years. With her academic expertise, insights, and experience, she can contribute to facilitating new working methods that will help create that local resilience against extremism, which is so decisive in the cities’ preventative work.”