A/HRC/41/55 “fertile ground to bring in potential new recruits”.24 White-power music continues to be an essential component of neo-Nazi propaganda, and often incites hatred and violence against specific racial, ethnic and religious groups.25 For example, in July 2018, the “Rock gegen Überfremdung” (Rock against foreign domination) festival gathered more than 6,000 neoNazis, 26 one of the largest white power music concerts ever organized in Germany. In Germany, neo-Nazi music is very productive, with more than 150 concerts per year and about 15,000 people participating in the production and distribution of propaganda content through such music. According to monitoring groups, the white-power music industry in the United States has recently experienced the greatest spike since the early 1990s. 27 17. The military has historically been a recruiting ground for hate groups. 28 Media reports have documented the troubling connections between hate groups and military forces in some North American and European countries. 29 In North America, neo-Nazis and skinhead groups have encouraged their followers to enlist in the Armed Forces to get military training and acquire the skills to overthrow authorities sympathetic to groups targeted by supremacist ideology. 30 Sources in a report issued in 2006 by one organization that monitors hate groups stated that at that time “thousands” of individuals serving in the United States military were affiliated with extremist or gang activity. 31 18. In the 1990s, recruitment into hate groups usually occurred through face-to-face interaction. Recruiters generally approached potential members in the street or distributed pamphlets. 32 Today, hate groups continue to use such methods to attract new members, especially following the commission of serious crimes by an immigrant or a member of a racial, ethnic or religious minority.33 However, online recruitment strategies have grown in popularity, especially targeting children and young people. 34 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Centre for Democratic Renewal, “Hate groups: mainstreaming of the far right”, response to the periodic report of the United States submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2008), fifteenth page. Rob May, “Hearing hate: white power music”, commentary, EuropeNow (2 October 2018). Available at www.europenowjournal.org/2018/10/01/hearing-hate-white-power-music/. Rob Waugh, “Huge German neo-Nazi rock festival sees fans wearing ‘I heart HTLR’ T-shirts”, Metro, 17 July 2018. Available at https://metro.co.uk/2017/07/17/huge-german-neo-nazi-rockfestival-sees-fans-wearing-i-heart-htlr-t-shirts-6784842/. May, “Hearing hate”. Center for Democratic Renewal, “Hate groups”, fifteenth page. Daniel Trotta, “U.S. Army battling racists within its own ranks”, Reuters, 21 August 2012, available at www.reuters.com/article/usa-wisconsin-shooting-army/u-s-army-battling-racists-within-its-ownranks-idUSL2E8JHO6K20120821; David Sterman, “The greater danger: military-trained rights-wings extremists”, Atlantic, 24 April 2013, available at www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/thegreater-danger-military-trained-right-wing-extremists/275277/; Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, “The German military has a right-wing extremism problem”, Foreign Policy, 1 May 2017, available at https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/01/the-german-military-has-a-neo-nazi-problem-extremism-rightwing-terrorism/; Christopher Woody, “US and European militaries are trying to keep neo-Nazis out of their ranks”, Business Insider, 11 September 2017, available at www.businessinsider.com/us-andeuropean-militaries-trying-to-keep-neo-nazis-out-of-their-ranks-2017-9?r=US&IR=T. Trotta, “U.S. Army battling racists within its own ranks”. Mark Potok, “Extremism and the military”, Intelligence Report (August 2006), Available at www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2006/extremism-and-military. Anya Kamenetz, “Right-wing hate Groups are recruiting video gamers”, All Things Considered, 5 November 2018. Available at www.npr.org/2018/11/05/660642531/right-wing-hate-groups-arerecruiting-video-gamers. Niklas Odén, “The way out: a handbook for understanding and responding to extreme movements” (EXIT Fryshuset, 2009), p. 8. Séraphin Alava and others, Youth and Violent Extremism on Social Media: Mapping the Research, (Paris, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2017), p. 19; Aristotle Kallis, Sara Zeiger and Bilgehan Öztürk, eds., Violent Radicalisation & Far-Right Extremism in Europe (Istanbul, Foundation for Political, Economic Social Research (SETA), 2018), p. 86. 5