Balkan Foreign Fighters Are Coming Back: What Should Be Done?
Recommendations
• Put an emphasis on reintegration instead of criminalization;
• Tailor responses to the returnees based on their motivations to join IS, motivations
to return and gender/age dynamics;
• Engage local religious, family and school communities in the process of
reintegration;
• Address push factors such as poverty, inequality, and economic insecurity.
Executive summary
The Islamic State (IS) will remain a threat in 2018, experts say. Thousands of
foreign fighters are now coming back to their home countries following the collapse of
the so-called “caliphate”. From the around 900 people from the Western Balkans who
have travelled to Syria and Iraq between 2011 and 2016, 250 have already returned.
Despite the different reasons for doing so, returnees raise security concerns, to which
local governments should respond.