Rehabilitation for Foreign Fighters? Relevance, Challenges and Opportunities for the Criminal Justice Sector

Entenmann, Eva; Heide, Liesbeth van der; Weggemans, Daan; Dorsey, Jessica

doi:10.19165/2015.2.05

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Since 2014, international institutions have expressed their concern over remaining foreign fighters and emphasized their supportive role by providing resolutions and guidelines to member states. Some, like the International Centre for Counter Terrorism, in The Hague, have called for humane, soft approaches (Entenmann et al, 2015;Eurojust, 2015).…”

Section: International Institutions and Other Countries' Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remaining Foreign Fighters: Fear, Misconceptions and Counterproductive Responses

Landström

2021

Understanding the Creeping Crisis

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The Syrian conflict gave rise to a large mobilization of Islamist foreign fighters. In recent years, many of these foreign fighters have asked to be repatriated from overcrowded refugee camps in northern Syria, camps known as hotbeds for radicalization. While researchers and humanitarian organizations largely agree that repatriation can prevent further radicalization and transnational threats, political leaders refuse to act. As the dire humanitarian situation in the camps and a denial of responsibility at home intensify, the situation is becoming more acute. This chapter explores the issue of remaining foreign fighters in Syria and the evolving threat situation as an example of a creeping crisis. The chapter focuses specifically on the Swedish handling of these foreign fighters. At least three hundred Swedish citizens traveled to Syria in 2012. In recent years, many of these have asked to be repatriated. Similar to its European counterparts, the Swedish government has refused to meet these foreign fighters’ requests, potentially generating a broader global threat. The Swedish response is the focus of this chapter and illuminates one of the key aspects of a creeping crisis.

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Section: International Institutions and Other Countries' Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remaining Foreign Fighters: Fear, Misconceptions and Counterproductive Responses

Landström

2021

Understanding the Creeping Crisis

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“…63 The main lesson to be drawn from all these attempts is the importance of not reinventing the wheel: the sheer amount of experience and knowledge of rehabilitation and reintegration of VEOs can assist in doing the same for a specific target audiences such as returned FTFs or potentially juvenile FTF. 64 What Do Countries Do Now with Juvenile VEOs?…”

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confidence: 99%

Children of the Caliphate: Young IS Returnees and the Reintegration Challenge

van der Heide,

Geenen

2017

Research Paper

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This research paper focuses on young or juvenile Islamic State (IS) returnees, assessing what sets juvenile returnees apart from adult returnees or the broader population of young criminals, and scoping the potential venues and challenges in their rehabilitation and reintegration. The authors conclude that rehabilitation and reintegration efforts for juvenile violent extremist offenders (including those returning from IS-territory) need to be based on two underlying assumptions: the importance of age and attitudes. Young children (zero to nine years old) who are born in IS-territory or brought by their parents at a very young age, should first and foremost be viewed as victims. For older children, other factors such as indoctrination, training and potential involvement in violent activities are more likely to play a role, demanding an approach that goes beyond the victim-perspective. Professionals need to determine to what extent these children have been socialised into IS-culture and whether they cope with their experiences more internally or externally. To direct rehabilitative efforts for them, it is even more essential to assess their attitude towards violence and to what extent they have accepted IS’ norms and behaviors, compared to adult terrorist returnees. In the end, the authors conclude that it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, especially where numbers of terrorism convicts in general, and juveniles in particular are low. But rehabilitation is considered to work best when tailored to individual needs, and policymakers need to take into account the very distinctive needs of juvenile offenders as a separate class of offenders while respecting all relevant international law and human rights standards in the fight against terrorism.

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Foreign Terrorist Fighters

Zhirukhina

2024

Contributions to Political Science

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Rehabilitation for Foreign Fighters? Relevance, Challenges and Opportunities for the Criminal Justice Sector

Cited by 3 publications

References 14 publications

Remaining Foreign Fighters: Fear, Misconceptions and Counterproductive Responses

Remaining Foreign Fighters: Fear, Misconceptions and Counterproductive Responses

Children of the Caliphate: Young IS Returnees and the Reintegration Challenge

Foreign Terrorist Fighters

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