Female ISIS returnees raise European fears

Shaimaa Yahia

The female members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) face an uncertain future, especially after the collapse of the terrorist organization and the destruction of its presumed caliphate.

Some of these women want to return to their home countries where they are viewed as a threat to national security. Some others, however, maintain close links with the vestiges of ISIS leadership. These women are difficult to change or assimilate into their original societies.

International warnings

The international community has not agreed on a way of dealing with the female ISIS returnees yet.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations warned recently against bringing the female ISIS returnees to trial. As a move, it said, this would negatively affect international efforts to defeat the terrorist organization.

In a report, covering 80 countries, the committee cited difficulties in proving the crimes committed by the female ISIS returnees.

It said there is scant information about the women who had joined the terrorist organization and then decided to return to their home countries.

The committee noted that it is easier to track the crimes committed by the male members of ISIS because some of these men had appeared in ISIS promotional and propaganda videos.

It said some western European and North American countries are not well-prepared for the trial of female ISIS members.

Return problems

A large number of the female ISIS members are now in refugee camps in northeastern Syria. Most of these women dream of returning to their countries, having discovered the delusional nature of the jihad they wanted to launch in the Arab region.

Nevertheless, most European states view the potential female ISIS returnees as ticking time bombs.

European security agencies believe that these women had acquired enough experience in spreading the extremist ideology of ISIS, in their capacity as mothers who would be responsible for bringing up the new generation of European citizens.

Until 2019, 609,000 former female ISIS members returned to their countries.

Over 18,000 ISIS females are now in refugee camps in northeastern Syria, including 2,000 women who had ditched their original citizenships and tore up their passports.