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Since the first reports detailing the presence of foreigner participating in the Syrian civil war in September 2011, the number of foreign fighters has increased exponentially.Especially European policymakers are worried about the potential threat posed by the presence of hundreds of European foreign fighters in Syria and the possibility that some of them could return to stage an attack. This article examines the challenges European policymakers face when addressing the foreign fighter phenomenon in gen eral, and that of returnees in particular. The article first discusses the complexity of the (potential) threat posed by those that return from the fight in Syria. Next, it outlines the need for and challenge of providing an accurate threat assessment. The authors then present a number of recent ideas and proposals on how to deal with the phenom enon of foreign fighters in Europe. These proposals highlight the need for a mixed or comprehensive approach, which is sensible given the complexity as well as the multi dimensional and international nature of the threat. However, it also poses an addi tional challenge to policymakers pertaining to the implementation of such an

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This Policy Brief aims to inform the current debate on integrating rehabilitation into the overall approach to foreign fighters by highlighting the challenges and opportunities within the criminal justice sector response to the phenomenon. The authors first analyse the specifics of the contemporary foreign fighter phenomenon and the criminal justice sector response in the EU. Second, the Policy Brief outlines the main contours of rehabilitation programmes for violent extremist offenders and the benefits of rehabilitation in this particular foreign fighter context. Third, the authors explore the challenges and opportunities at four stages of the criminal justice sector chain for incorporating rehabilitation, namely the pre-trial, trial and sentencing phase, as well as during incarceration and beyond the prison context. The final section offers reflections and recommendations to incorporate rehabilitation into the criminal justice sector response in dealing with foreign fighters.