Returning Foreign Fighters: Responses, Legal Challenges and Ways Forward

Foreword
Contents
Editors and Contributors
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
References
Part I Setting the Scene
2 Europe and Its Returning Foreign Fighters: Overview of the Policy Response
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Returnees: One Label, Many Realities
2.3 Dealing with Returnees: The Evolution of the Policy Response in Europe
2.3.1 Detection and Risk-Assessment
2.3.2 Prosecution
2.3.3 Prison Management
2.3.4 Post-release
2.4 Conclusion
References
3 Historical Responses to Foreign Fighters and Returnees
3.1 Introduction: Learning from the Past
3.2 Who Counts as Foreign Fighters?
3.3 Foreign Fighter Returnees from the ‘New World’
3.4 Responses to Foreign Fighters and Returnees
3.4.1 Legal Statutes
3.4.2 Politics and Prosecutions
3.4.3 Responses to Jihadis Prior to Resolution 2178
3.5 Conclusion: Looking to the Future
References
4 The Status of Foreign Fighters’ Family Members Under Counter-Terrorism Law and International Humanitarian Law: Overcoming the Victims/Perpetrators Dichotomy?
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Role of Women and Children Affiliated with ISIS
4.2.1 Women
4.2.2 Children
4.3 ‘Victims’ or ‘Terrorists/Perpetrators’ Under the Current International Legal Framework
4.3.1 International Counter-Terrorism Law
4.3.2 International Humanitarian Law
4.4 Concluding Remarks
References
Part II Responses to the (Returning) Foreign Fighters Phenomenon: The International Dimension
5 The International Legal and Policy Framework on Returning Foreign Fighters: Focus on the United Nations and the Global Counterterrorism Forum
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Leading the International Policy Agenda
5.3 Regulating Without Defining: Who Are Considered to Be Returnees?
5.4 The Multidisciplinary and Multi-stakeholder Response to the Threat Posed by Returnees
5.4.1 Managing Travel, Detection and Identification
5.4.2 Criminal Justice Approach
5.4.3 Rehabilitation and Reintegration
5.4.4 Families and Children
5.5 Concluding Remarks
References
6 ‘Foreign Fighters’, Syrian Camps and the Jurisdictional Quagmire
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Background Facts—Individuals Held in Camps in NES
6.3 Comparative Approaches to the Scope (‘Extra-Territorial Applicability’) of IHRL
6.3.1 Introduction
6.3.2 ICCPR: The UN Human Rights Committee
6.3.3 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Other UN Entities
6.3.4 The European Court of Human Rights: Effective Control of What?
6.3.5 Inter-American System
6.3.6 The African Human Rights System
6.4 UNCRC: Children in Syrian Camps and the Cases Against France
6.4.1 Introduction
6.4.2 Submissions on Jurisdiction
6.4.3 Findings and Jurisdictional Factors
6.5 Conclusion
References
Part III Responses to the (Returning) Foreign Fighters Phenomenon: The National Dimension
7 Evidentiary and Charging Matters in the Context of Prosecuting Returning Foreign Fighters Before National Courts
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Evidentiary and Charging Opportunities On and Around the (Digital) Battlefield
7.2.1 A Renewed Focus on International Crimes
7.2.2 Information Collected from the Conflict Zone
7.2.3 Information Collected from Open Sources and Social Media
7.3 Residual Charges
7.3.1 Prosecution for Travelling Abroad for the Purpose of Terrorism
7.3.2 Prosecution for Staying in an Area Controlled by a Terrorist Organisation
7.4 Conclusion
References
8 The Qualification of the Activities of (Returned) Foreign Fighters Under National Criminal Law
8.1 Introduction: Possibilities of Qualification
8.2 Terrorist Offences
8.3 Relationship Between CT Instruments and IHL
8.3.1 Why the Relationship Is Problematic
8.3.2 How National Courts Have Dealt with the Relationship
8.4 War Crimes
8.4.1 Outrages upon Personal Dignity
8.4.2 Cases Regarding Female IS Members
8.4.3 The Importance of Prosecuting International Crimes
8.5 Common Offences
8.6 Conclusion: All Relevant Legal Frameworks Count
References
9 The Lack of Individualisation of Sentences and Their Enforcement at the Expense of Reintegration in France
9.1 Introduction
9.2 “All Dangerous”: The Absence of Individualisation of Punishment
9.2.1 Intangible: The Actus Reus in Terrorist Cases
9.2.2 Vanished: The Mens Rea of Participation Dissolved into the Material Elements of the Crime
9.3 From Isolation to “Dry Exit”: The Absence of Individualisation of the Enforcement Phase
9.3.1 Generalised Isolation from the Outside as Long as Possible
9.3.2 Exclusion and Isolation in Detention
9.3.3 Lost Opportunities of Reintegration Until the “Dry Exit”
9.4 Concluding Remarks
References
10 Putting the ‘Foreign’ in ‘Foreign Fighter’: Nationality Deprivation and the Denial of Readmission
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Nationality Deprivation
10.3 Limits to the Use of Nationality Deprivation
10.4 Denial of Readmission
10.5 Limits to the Denial of Readmission
10.6 The (Legal) Implications of Turning ‘Foreign Fighters’ into Foreigners
10.7 Conclusion
References
11 Family Courts as Part of States’ Counter-Terrorism Toolkit: A Welcome Development for the Children of FTFs?
11.1 Introduction
11.2 International Legal Obligations and Children Affected by the FTF Phenomenon
11.3 The Family Courts, Counter-Terrorism and Children Affected by the FTF Phenomenon
11.4 Conclusion
References
12 Legal Regulation of Subversive Expressions in Relation to Terrorist Travel: The Dutch Situation Against the Backdrop of International Human Rights Law
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Dutch Way of Dealing with Expressions in the Context of Travel for Terrorist Purposes: Amplifying the Range of Prohibited Speech
12.2.1 Criminal Law: Broad Notions of Indirect Incitement in Relation to Terrorist Travel
12.2.2 Administrative Measures (When Criminal Law Is Thought to Fall Short): Hindering Movement or Hindering Ideas?
12.3 International Human Rights Law
12.3.1 The European Convention on Human Rights and ‘Terrorist Speech’
12.3.2 Other International Law
12.4 Conclusion
References
Index