Report
Policies on returning foreign fighters
European countries struggling how to deal with the issue of returning foreign fighters, women and children from the Caliphate.
- Author
- Edwin Bakker, Jessica Sciarone and Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn
- Date
- 11 April 2019
In a comparative study by Edwin Bakker, Jessica Sciarone and Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, the authors investigate policies regarding the issue of returning foreign fighters from conflict zones in seven countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States in the period 2017-2018.
Despite the fact that the issue of helping children to return has been widely debated over the past year, governments are reluctant to actively repatriate foreign fighters. Late 2018, a number of countries increased efforts to bring back children.
Whereas the Netherlands has developed initiatives to be well-prepared for the possible return of children, the government has not engaged in any attempts to bring children back to the country. The full report [in Dutch] can be read here.