What is it about?
Foreign terrorist fighters raise security concerns with regard to their actions abroad but also their possible return to their home countries. This paper asks whether tough state responses and new powers such as detention and withdrawal of citizenship around extremism and terrorism raise significant human rights issues. It looks firstly at the different types of rights in play before examining counter-terror legislation from countries such as UK, Australia and Canada.
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Why is it important?
As a consequence of the conflict in Syria, there are around 30,000 foreign terrorist fighters. Some 4500 of these are from the West raising security concerns with regards to the actions abroad and the possible return of these individuals to their home countries. What is often overlooked in these concerns is the human rights perspective. This paper examines current Western state approaches to foreign terrorist fighters. Does imprisonment have a deterrent effect? What is the impact on communities of rendering individuals stateless?
Perspectives
We all want to be safe, and we all value our personal and societal security. Yet what appear to be knee jerk reactions of national security can emphasise simplistic, linear conceptions of radicalisation and deradicalisation. The strengthening of the State through arrest, detention and fear appears to have had little effect on either preventing the foreign fighter phenomenon or making our world safer. In this joint paper with Professor Lynn Davies, we provide three clear recommendations.
Zubeda Limbada
ConnectFutures
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Addressing the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomenon from a Human Rights Perspective, International Community Law Review, December 2016, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/18719732-12341343.
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Resources
Four Former
Our #Formers project aims to tell the stories of four former extremists in their own words. These include a mixture of both former ‘Islamist’ as well as former ‘far-right’ violent extremists. Our aim is to start the difficult conversations so we can better understand the path in and out of violence, and its impact. The formers pose challenging questions about what motivates, whether people can change and what can be done to prevent people from choosing an extremist pathway. The film is a preventative measure to stop people from joining violent extremist groups.
Formers (extremists) and Families:Transitional Journeys in and out of violent extremisms in the UK
A comparative EU research project between the UK, Netherlands and Denmark, exploring individuals’ journeys to and from violence, and the role of their friends and families.
Contributors
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