A/HRC/34/50/Add.1 VI. Conflict prevention through proactive outreach programmes 50. A particular problem that is of concern to many people is the rise of religious extremism, not least after the killings of February 2015 at the Krudttønden cultural centre and in front of the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen. Furthermore, the Danish population had been shocked on numerous occasions by reports that adolescents and young adults who had grown up in Denmark had travelled to the Syrian Arab Republic to fight for the socalled Islamic State or other terrorist groups. Some of them had presumably died in such fights. 51. Aarhus has gained international reputation for its de-radicalization model, supported by the European Commission and defined by a proactive outreach to all parts of the municipality in order to build sustainable trust. Social workers, police and other actors closely cooperate in a “cross-sectoral approach” that facilitates finding tailor-made pragmatic solutions before a personal crisis with possibly disastrous effects unfolds. The “info house”, to which anyone should have easy access, embodies the open-door policy adopted by the municipality in general. The message conveyed to the population is that anyone confronted with personal problems of whatever sort can count on professional support, including through counselling, mentoring and other offers. Even those who have come in conflict with the law and thus have to face punishments will also receive support, if they wish. 52. The cautious approach to religion, as presented in the previous section, also prevails within the Aarhus model for de-radicalization. The headline “political and religious extremism” already signals that religion is not addressed in isolation. In practice, the programme aims at broadening the options that individuals at risk have in their daily lives, for instance, concerning accommodation, jobs and social contacts. According to information received from the municipality, the programme has yielded tangible results, as testified inter alia by a sharp decline of young people travelling to the Syrian Arab Republic to join the so-called Islamic State. 53. Close cross-sectoral cooperation also characterizes the community work carried out in Vollsmose, part of the Odense municipality, where 60 per cent of the inhabitants are of “other ethnic backgrounds” and where there is a very high rate of unemployment. Vollsmose made national headlines by employing a Muslim woman who wears the hijab to conduct outreach work for the police as an attempt to build more trust with immigrant communities from Somali, Palestinian and other origins. However, as part of a policy of reaching out to immigrant communities, Muslim women (who wear the hijab or not) should ideally be part of a police force that is diverse in terms of gender and religion, and not simply recruited on an ad hoc basis to gain the trust of communities where mistrust towards the police can be a difficult obstacle to overcome. Indeed, “trust” is common to a number of new initiatives, such as a language café, mothers support group, mentoring programme for immigrant children, etc. The local parish of the Folkekirke has hosted interreligious dialogue projects, thereby bringing together Sunnis, Shias and Christians from various denominations. Many of these initiatives have a particular gender aspect and aim at empowering women. The projects carried out in Vollsmose may serve as a good example of an approach that more explicitly and proactively addresses religion and religious community concerns and does not focus exclusively on the individual. VII. Blasphemy law and anti-hatred provisions 54. Danish society has a reputation of valuing freedom of expression highly. It thus came as a surprise when in 2015 the Government announced that it would keep the existing blasphemy provision — article 140 of the Penal Code — despite the fact that it had not 14