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Dealing with the Challenge: Responses to Foreign Fighters and Foreign Fighter Returnees

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Abstract

Many Western governments have grappled with the issue of foreign fighters. Some countries have introduced measures to tackle the outflow of volunteers. Others have devised additional interventions to deal with returning foreign fighters. The chapter examines the different approaches prevailing in the West. It analyzes such measures against foreign fighters as prevention of travel, criminalization of foreign fighting, and soft preventive measures. The chapter discusses elimination of foreign fighters, citizenship revocation, and rehabilitation programs as some of the measures dealing with foreign fighter returnees.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Hague-Marrakech Memorandum on Good Practices for a More Effective Response to the FTF Phenomenon, Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), September 23, 2014, https://www.thegctf.org/documents/10162/140201/14Sept19_The+Hague-Marrakech+FTF+Memorandum.pdf.

  2. 2.

    Addendum to The Hague-Marrakech Memorandum on Good Practices for a More Effective Response to the FTF Phenomenon, with a focus on Returning FTFs, Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), September 27, 2015, https://www.thegctf.org/Portals/1/Documents/Toolkit-documents/English-Addendum-to-The-Hague-Marrakech-Memorandum.pdf.

  3. 3.

    “CTED Executive Director Welcomes Security Council Resolution on Foreign Terrorist Fighters,” Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, September 24, 2014, https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/news/2014/09/24/cted-executive-director-welcomes-security-council-resolution-on-foreign-terrorist-fighters/.

  4. 4.

    United Nations Security Council, Resolution 2178, September 24, 2014.

  5. 5.

    United Nations Security Council, Resolution 2178, September 24, 2014.

  6. 6.

    United Nations Security Council, Counter-Terrorism Committee, Madrid Guiding Principles, December 23, 2015.

  7. 7.

    Letter dated December 22, 2015 from the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly, UN General Assembly Document A/70/675, December 24, 2015.

  8. 8.

    United Nations General Assembly, Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, A/70/674, December 24, 2015.

  9. 9.

    United Nations Security Council, Resolution 2396, December 21, 2017.

  10. 10.

    United Nations Security Council, Counter-Terrorism Committee, Addendum to the Madrid Guiding Principles, December 28, 2018.

  11. 11.

    “Security Council Committees Hold First Joint Meeting on FTFs,” Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, February 1, 2016, https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/news/2016/02/01/security-council-committees-hold-first-joint-meeting-on-ftfs/.

  12. 12.

    For more on ways of dealing with foreign fighters and returnees, see Charles Lister, Returning Foreign Fighters: Criminalization or Reintegration? (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2015); Walle Bos, Bibi van Ginkel, and Tanya Mehra, Capacity-Building Challenges: Identifying Progress and Remaining Gaps in Dealing with Foreign (Terrorist) Fighters (The Hague: ICCT, 2018); and Eva Entenmann, Liesbeth van der Heide, Daan Weggemans, and Jessica Dorsey, Rehabilitation for Foreign Fighters? Relevance, Challenges and Opportunities for the Criminal Justice Sector (The Hague: ICCT, 2015).

  13. 13.

    Enhancing Europol’s Counter Terrorism Capabilities: European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) at Europol, Council of the European Union Doc. 8881/16, May 13, 2016.

  14. 14.

    “Increased Law Enforcement Cooperation Between the United States and Europe,” Europol, February 25, 2015.

  15. 15.

    “France Seizes Passports of Six ‘Syria-Bound’ Citizens,” BBC News, February 23, 2015.

  16. 16.

    Special Meeting of the Federal and State Interior Ministers in Berlin, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, October 17, 2014.

  17. 17.

    Melissa Cunningham, “The Case for and Against Cancelling Terror Suspects’ Passports,” Age, November 21, 2018.

  18. 18.

    “Police Seize Passport from ‘Foreign Fighter’,” Local, April 10, 2015.

  19. 19.

    Kim Willsher, “France in Shock Again After Isis Murder of Priest in Normandy,” Guardian, July 26, 2016.

  20. 20.

    “Bourke Street Attacker Identified as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali as Police Carry Out Raids in Melbourne,” ABC, November 10, 2018.

  21. 21.

    Prosecutor v. Omar H., District Court of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Case No. 10/960019-12, October 23, 2013, http://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/3292.

  22. 22.

    Prosecutor v. Mohammed G., District Court of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Case No. 10/960233-12, October 23, 2013, http://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Case/3294/Prosecutor-v-Mohammed-G/.

  23. 23.

    United States of America v. Nicholas Michael Teausant, District Court for the Eastern District of California, Case 2:14-cr-00087-JAM, March 26, 2014.

  24. 24.

    “California Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Attempting to Join ISIL,” Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, Press Release, June 7, 2016.

  25. 25.

    Nash Jenkins, “You’ll Never Guess Which Country Is the Biggest Per Capita Contributor of Foreign Jihadists to ISIS,” Time, June 23, 2014; Souad Mekhennet and Greg Miller, “An ISIS Defector or Willing Party?” Washington Post, October 5, 2016.

  26. 26.

    Shiv Malik, “French Isis Fighters Filmed Burning Passports and Calling for Terror at Home,” Guardian, November 19, 2014; Gareth Browne, “Isis Sets Bomb Traps Around Mass Grave,” Times, March 1, 2017; Stewart Bell, “Canadians Faced Few Hurdles in Joining ISIL,” National Post, March 12, 2016.

  27. 27.

    Tracy McVeigh, “‘Police Betrayed Me,’ Says Mother of Imprisoned British Jihadi,” Guardian, December 6, 2014.

  28. 28.

    Preventing Radicalisation to Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Community Engagement and Empowerment (RAN, 2018), https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/radicalisation_awareness_network/ran-best-practices/docs/community_engagement_and_empowerment_en.pdf.

  29. 29.

    “Counter-Terrorism: Foreign Fighters,” UK Parliament, House of Commons, March 26, 2015, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmhaff/933/93305.htm#n10.

  30. 30.

    Country Reports on Terrorism 2017, U.S. Department of State, https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2017/282846.htm.

  31. 31.

    Bill Chappell, “Red Cross Urges Fair and Lawful Treatment of Captured ISIS Fighters,” NPR, October 26, 2017.

  32. 32.

    Barbara Starr, “Official: U.S. Keeping ISIS Kill List,” CNN, February 18, 2015.

  33. 33.

    Jo Becker and Scott Shane, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will,” New York Times, May 29, 2012.

  34. 34.

    Alexandra Ma, “Britain’s Defence Secretary Has Threatened to Kill Every Single Extremist Who Has Left the UK to Fight for ISIS,” Business Insider, December 7, 2017.

  35. 35.

    Kate McCann, “‘The Only Way’ of Dealing with British Islamic State Fighters Is to Kill Them in Almost Every Case, Minister Says,” Telegraph, October 22, 2017.

  36. 36.

    Rob Merrick, “Gavin Williamson Labelled ‘Juvenile’ for Saying All British Isis Fighters Should Be Hunted and Killed,” Independent, December 7, 2017.

  37. 37.

    Benjamin Kentish, “SAS in Iraq Given ‘Kill List’ of 200 British Jihadis to Take Out,” Independent, November 6, 2016.

  38. 38.

    “Jihadi John’ Death: Islamic State Says Mohammed Emwazi Killed,” BBC News, January 19, 2016.

  39. 39.

    “British IS Recruiter Sally-Anne Jones ‘Killed by Drone’,” BBC News, October 12, 2017.

  40. 40.

    “Australian IS Fighters Targeted: Turnbull,” SBS News, May 26, 2017.

  41. 41.

    Stephanie Borys and Louise Yaxley, “Islamic State Involvement Sees Five Australian Terrorists Stripped of Citizenship,” ABC News, August 9, 2018.

  42. 42.

    “Wanted Dead, Not Alive: France’s Approach to French Jihadists,” Local, October 18, 2017.

  43. 43.

    Henry Samuel, “Francois Hollande Has Personally Authorised ‘at Least 40’ Targeted Killings Abroad, Says New Book,” Telegraph, January 5, 2017.

  44. 44.

    Tamer El-Ghobashy, Maria Abi-Habib, and Benoit Faucon, “France’s Special Forces Hunt French Militants Fighting for Islamic State,” Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2017.

  45. 45.

    Evan Dyer, “‘Canada Does Not Engage in Death Squads,’ While Allies Actively Hunt Down Their Own Foreign Fighters,” CBC News, November 17, 2017.

  46. 46.

    Janene Pieters, “Justice Min. to Revoke Terror Suspects’ Dutch Citizenship,” NlTimes, June 13, 2018.

  47. 47.

    Kim Willsher, “Hollande Drops Plan to Revoke Citizenship of Dual-National Terrorists,” Guardian, March 30, 2016.

  48. 48.

    “Supreme Court Strips Terrorist of Danish Citizenship,” Local, June 8, 2016.

  49. 49.

    “Danish Court Strips Islamic State Fighter of Citizenship,” Reuters, March 31, 2017.

  50. 50.

    Jane Norman and Caitlyn Gribbin, “Islamic State Fighter Khaled Sharrouf Becomes First to Lose Citizenship under Anti-Terror Laws,” ABC News, February 10, 2017.

  51. 51.

    “Neil Prakash, Fighter Recruited by Isis, Stripped of Australian Citizenship,” Guardian, December 28, 2018.

  52. 52.

    “UK ‘Has Stripped 150 Jihadists and Criminals of Citizenship’,” Guardian, July 30, 2017.

  53. 53.

    Gareth Davies, “Isil Beatles: Government Right Not to Block Death Penalty, High Court Rules,” Telegraph, January 18, 2019.

  54. 54.

    Tara John, “Shamima Begum to Be Stripped of British Nationality and Will Not Be Allowed into Bangladesh, Government Says,” CNN, February 22, 2019.

  55. 55.

    Tara John, “Shamima Begum to Be Stripped of British Nationality and Will Not Be Allowed into Bangladesh, Government Says,” CNN, February 22, 2019.

  56. 56.

    Helen Davidson and Amy Remeikis, “Neil Prakash ‘Not a Fiji Citizen’: Dutton Move to Strip Australian Citizenship in Doubt,” Guardian, January 2, 2019.

  57. 57.

    Andrew Higgins, “For Jihadists, Denmark Tries Rehabilitation,” New York Times, December 14, 2014.

  58. 58.

    Jon Henley, “How Do You Deradicalise Returning Isis Fighters?,” Guardian, November 12, 2014.

  59. 59.

    Jon Henley, “How Do You Deradicalise Returning Isis Fighters?,” Guardian, November 12, 2014.

  60. 60.

    Jon Henley, “How Do You Deradicalise Returning Isis Fighters?,” Guardian, November 12, 2014.

  61. 61.

    Andrew Higgins, “For Jihadists, Denmark Tries Rehabilitation,” New York Times, December 14, 2014.

  62. 62.

    “Aarhus Program Helping to Integrate Returned IS Fighters,” Copenhagen Post, March 4, 2019.

  63. 63.

    Andrew Higgins, “For Jihadists, Denmark Tries Rehabilitation,” New York Times, December 14, 2014.

  64. 64.

    Chase Winter, “As IS Crumbles, Syrian Kurds Want Germany to Take Back Foreign Fighters,” DW, February 4, 2019.

  65. 65.

    HAYAT-Deutschland, https://hayat-deutschland.de/english/?c=goals.

  66. 66.

    Julia Berczyk, “Returning from the ‘IS’—Experiences from the Counseling Service HAYAT-Germany,” Sicherheitspolitik-blog, March 20, 2015, https://www.sicherheitspolitik-blog.de/2015/03/20/returning-from-the-is-experiences-from-the-counseling-service-hayat-germany/.

  67. 67.

    Fiona Hamilton and Richard Ford, “Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Must Go on Anti-Extremism Course,” Times, October 29, 2018.

  68. 68.

    Fiona Hamilton and Richard Ford, “Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Must Go on Anti-Extremism Course,” Times, October 29, 2018.

  69. 69.

    “Security Council Committees Hold First Joint Meeting on FTFs,” Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, February 1, 2016, https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/news/2016/02/01/security-council-committees-hold-first-joint-meeting-on-ftfs/.

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Pokalova, E. (2020). Dealing with the Challenge: Responses to Foreign Fighters and Foreign Fighter Returnees. In: Returning Islamist Foreign Fighters. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31478-1_5

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