Former Western ISIS female members want to return home

Nahla Abdelmonem

Western female members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are coming at the center of debates.

The collapse of ISIS has rendered a large number of female organization members homeless. They are now scattered in the different refugee camps in northern Syria. This makes it necessary for the international community to find a framework for the presence of these women, but without causing harms to the interests of states in the Middle East region.

Major states are divided on former ISIS female members. Some of these states had readmitted these females into them, along with their children. Others, however, continue to refuse their return. The same states are afraid that the return of former ISIS female members would make it necessary for them to stretch their security preparations to ensure that these former terrorists would not carry out attacks.

Nevertheless, ISIS women in the refugee camps in Syria demand returning to their home countries every now and then.

Life after ISIS

“The Return: Life After ISIS” documentary, directed by Spanish director Alba Sotorra Clua, premiered at the online Texas-based South By Southwest festival.

The film documents the life of female ISIS members in refugee camps controlled by the Kurds in northern Syria after the collapse of the organization.

The former ISIS members call on their governments to give them a second chance to return to their countries and reintegrate into their original societies.