Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO)

Islamism

The Forum of Euro­pean Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Organ­i­sa­tions (FEMYSO) is a pan-Euro­pean umbrel­la organ­i­sa­tion found­ed in 1996 and head­quar­tered in Brus­sels. It rep­re­sents more than 30 Mus­lim youth and stu­dent groups across over 20 Euro­pean coun­tries. It describes itself as the pri­ma­ry voice for Mus­lim youth at the Euro­pean lev­el, work­ing close­ly with EU insti­tu­tions, the Coun­cil of Europe, and numer­ous civ­il-soci­ety plat­forms. FEMYSO is wide­ly iden­ti­fied by gov­ern­men­tal inquiries, aca­d­e­m­ic stud­ies, and net­work-map­ping projects as the youth and stu­dent arm of the Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Orga­ni­za­tions in Europe (FIOE)—now the Coun­cil of Euro­pean Mus­lims (CEM)—which is broad­ly recog­nised as part of the Mus­lim Brotherhood’s Euro­pean infra­struc­ture. Over the years, key FEMYSO lead­er­ship fig­ures have includ­ed Ibrahim El-Zay­at, a senior Ger­man Mus­lim Broth­er­hood leader, as well as indi­vid­u­als from fam­i­lies of glob­al­ly influ­en­tial Broth­er­hood fig­ures, includ­ing the daugh­ter of Rachid Ghan­nouchi. In 2020, the Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report doc­u­ment­ed that Kau­thar Bouchal­likht, then FEMYSO Vice-Chair and sub­se­quent­ly a Dutch MP, was like­ly the daugh­ter of one of the most promi­nent Mus­lim Broth­er­hood lead­ers in the Nether­lands. As a result, FEMYSO is wide­ly assessed as a lead­er­ship-devel­op­ment and influ­ence-build­ing plat­form for Islamist-aligned youth in Europe, oper­at­ing through advo­ca­cy cam­paigns, pol­i­cy engage­ment, train­ing pro­grammes, and transna­tion­al mobilisation.

Sources:
FEMYSO – Wikipedia
FEMYSO – Offi­cial Website
Forum of Euro­pean Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Organ­i­sa­tions – Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report
The Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Orga­ni­za­tions in Europe – Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Watch (PDF)
Daugh­ter of Rachid Ghan­nouchi in FEMYSO Lead­er­ship – Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Watch
Kau­thar Bouchal­likht and Dutch Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Lead­er­ship – GIOR
FEMYSO – Euro­pean Stu­dents’ Union Directory