18 - 19 October 2023
There is no one size fits all when returnees are rehabilitated and reintegrated into their local societies. Incomplete or absent personal identification, revoked citizenship, personal trauma of both adults and children, and stigmatization by local communities are some of the complex dilemmas faced when reintegrating FTFs and their family members into their local communities. Dilemmas governed by international laws especially human rights law. These are real issues that require whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches.
To better understand the dilemmas, the FTF Working Group, Co-Chaired by Jordan and the United States, with the support of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) as implementing partner, arranged an in-person event where interactive simulations allowed practitioners and experts at the working-level to engage on the topic. The two-day workshop, contained tabletop exercises and scenario-based discussions, to examine the challenges, as well as policy and programmatic responses developed to address the dynamics of returning and reintegrating and/or relocating FTFs and family members to the region. The engagements helped further uncover the challenges and dilemmas practitioners are faced with when reintegrating FTFs and their family members into their local communities, and also enhanced the practical use of the GCTF Good Practices on Addressing the Challenge of Returning Families of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs).
The objective of the workshop was to create a better understanding of the challenges of returning FTFs and developing useful materials that can be implemented at the local-level by key community liaisons and practitioners. The materials are further developed to help promote train-the-trainer approaches to offer useful, practical resources for local implementation.
