Melbourne: Governments ignoring calls from former female ISIS members to return home undermines human rights and weakens international security.
For the past decade, researchers around the world have been fascinated with the rise and fall of the terrorist group ISIS.
The group's self-proclaimed Caliphate rose from the ashes of the Syrian civil war and the Iraqi Islamist insurgency. Then, within five years, its entire territory, which at one point spanned Syria and Iraq and threatened the Turkish border, disappeared. ISIS attracted more than 40,000 foreign members to join its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, from of which approximately 10 percent were women. This was the first time that thousands of women joined a terrorist group abroad.
Over the past decade, feminist researchers have been analyzing the nuances of women's participation and experiences with the group: the why and the how. However, little attention has been paid to the foreign women (and children) still remaining in Syria and Iraq and the urgency of their repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Unanswered questions remain about what should happen to foreign women who are not repatriated from the camps and, for those who are repatriated, what rehabilitation and reintegration programs exist that take into account the experiences these women had. In northeastern Syria is home to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The area is majority Kurdish and celebrates its ethnic and religious diversity, having recently ratified its constitution.
It is here that the al-Hol and al-Roj fields are located. Where tens of thousands of internally displaced people from the Syrian conflict live.
In Al-Hol, half of the approximately 53,000 living in the camp are under 11 years old. Among them are thousands of foreign women and children associated with ISIS from more than 50 countries, including Russia, the United Kingdom and China. detained in an annex separate from the rest of the camp population. The situation in the camps is terrible and the treatment has been compared to torture under international law. Numerous reports and accounts show that this indefinite imprisonment has lethal long-term consequences.
Importantly, not only women and children associated with ISIS are detained in the camps, but also victims/survivors of ISIS, such as Yazidi women and girls.
ISIS launched genocidal campaigns against the Yazidi community and atrocities against other minority groups, including ethnic, religious, gender and sexual minorities, underscoring that the situation in the countryside is unacceptable and demands international attention and assistance. Crucially, the majority of the inhabitants of the camp are Iraqi and Syrian families, which underlines the urgency of repatriating, processing, where appropriate, rehabilitating and reintegrating foreigners to relieve pressure from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
However, while some governments have increased their efforts (voluntarily or involuntarily) to repatriate their citizens (including Iraq), little research has been conducted on the ongoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs that are working, specifically for female returnees.
The question remains whether governments are prepared to work with the gender-specific needs of the heterogeneous women returnees. There are no programs for women returnees.
I have conducted research in 12 countries in the field of rehabilitation and reintegration of foreign women associated with ISIS, interviewing returnees and the professionals, policymakers and researchers who work with them.
The findings show that rehabilitation and reintegration programs for these returnees are mainly gender specific, focus only on men and neglect the experiences and needs of women. This absence of programs tailored to female returnees is influenced by stereotypes about the lack of agency and peace of women.
The research revealed that the rehabilitation and reintegration practices of repatriated women are often influenced by gender, racial and religious assumptions.
Research participants shared that women returnees experience a "double stigma," meaning that they are stigmatized not only for joining an extremist group but also because they have transgressed prevailing gender norms by doing so. Importantly, Women who belong to an ethnic and/or religious minority or who are immigrants are specifically affected by stigma, which is shaped by broader public thinking about ISIS returnees.
Public understanding of ISIS returnees has been considerably influenced by Islamophobia, particularly in non-Muslim majority countries.
A German practitioner described the impact of the Islamophobic narrative on her rehabilitation and reintegration program as a "constant racist devaluation." She also highlighted that returning to a society that discriminates against you for, for example, your hijab or niqab negatively influences the feeling of belonging and in the reintegration process.
Research shows that the rehabilitation and reintegration approach must respond to the diverse needs of returnees. Programs should consider individual differences and inequalities and take into account the specific experiences of, for example, women from minority ethnic or religious groups.
Successfully repatriating, prosecuting where appropriate, rehabilitating and reintegrating all returnees not only alleviates the humanitarian situation in Syria and Iraq, but strengthens international security by preventing returnees from motivating others to join extremist groups and/or return to join themselves. (360info.org) GRSGRS
For the past decade, researchers around the world have been fascinated with the rise and fall of the terrorist group ISIS.
The group's self-proclaimed Caliphate rose from the ashes of the Syrian civil war and the Iraqi Islamist insurgency. Then, within five years, its entire territory, which at one point spanned Syria and Iraq and threatened the Turkish border, disappeared. ISIS attracted more than 40,000 foreign members to join its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, from of which approximately 10 percent were women. This was the first time that thousands of women joined a terrorist group abroad.
Over the past decade, feminist researchers have been analyzing the nuances of women's participation and experiences with the group: the why and the how. However, little attention has been paid to the foreign women (and children) still remaining in Syria and Iraq and the urgency of their repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Unanswered questions remain about what should happen to foreign women who are not repatriated from the camps and, for those who are repatriated, what rehabilitation and reintegration programs exist that take into account the experiences these women had. In northeastern Syria is home to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The area is majority Kurdish and celebrates its ethnic and religious diversity, having recently ratified its constitution.
It is here that the al-Hol and al-Roj fields are located. Where tens of thousands of internally displaced people from the Syrian conflict live.
In Al-Hol, half of the approximately 53,000 living in the camp are under 11 years old. Among them are thousands of foreign women and children associated with ISIS from more than 50 countries, including Russia, the United Kingdom and China. detained in an annex separate from the rest of the camp population. The situation in the camps is terrible and the treatment has been compared to torture under international law. Numerous reports and accounts show that this indefinite imprisonment has lethal long-term consequences.
Importantly, not only women and children associated with ISIS are detained in the camps, but also victims/survivors of ISIS, such as Yazidi women and girls.
ISIS launched genocidal campaigns against the Yazidi community and atrocities against other minority groups, including ethnic, religious, gender and sexual minorities, underscoring that the situation in the countryside is unacceptable and demands international attention and assistance. Crucially, the majority of the inhabitants of the camp are Iraqi and Syrian families, which underlines the urgency of repatriating, processing, where appropriate, rehabilitating and reintegrating foreigners to relieve pressure from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
However, while some governments have increased their efforts (voluntarily or involuntarily) to repatriate their citizens (including Iraq), little research has been conducted on the ongoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs that are working, specifically for female returnees.
The question remains whether governments are prepared to work with the gender-specific needs of the heterogeneous women returnees. There are no programs for women returnees.
I have conducted research in 12 countries in the field of rehabilitation and reintegration of foreign women associated with ISIS, interviewing returnees and the professionals, policymakers and researchers who work with them.
The findings show that rehabilitation and reintegration programs for these returnees are mainly gender specific, focus only on men and neglect the experiences and needs of women. This absence of programs tailored to female returnees is influenced by stereotypes about the lack of agency and peace of women.
The research revealed that the rehabilitation and reintegration practices of repatriated women are often influenced by gender, racial and religious assumptions.
Research participants shared that women returnees experience a "double stigma," meaning that they are stigmatized not only for joining an extremist group but also because they have transgressed prevailing gender norms by doing so. Importantly, Women who belong to an ethnic and/or religious minority or who are immigrants are specifically affected by stigma, which is shaped by broader public thinking about ISIS returnees.
Public understanding of ISIS returnees has been considerably influenced by Islamophobia, particularly in non-Muslim majority countries.
A German practitioner described the impact of the Islamophobic narrative on her rehabilitation and reintegration program as a "constant racist devaluation." She also highlighted that returning to a society that discriminates against you for, for example, your hijab or niqab negatively influences the feeling of belonging and in the reintegration process.
Research shows that the rehabilitation and reintegration approach must respond to the diverse needs of returnees. Programs should consider individual differences and inequalities and take into account the specific experiences of, for example, women from minority ethnic or religious groups.
Successfully repatriating, prosecuting where appropriate, rehabilitating and reintegrating all returnees not only alleviates the humanitarian situation in Syria and Iraq, but strengthens international security by preventing returnees from motivating others to join extremist groups and/or return to join themselves. (360info.org) GRSGRS
