RAN Cross-cutting Thematic Event, Management of returning FTFs and their family members with a focus on returning women and children, online meeting 14-15 December 2021

The aim of this cross-cutting event was to foster the networking and exchanging between practitioners, researchers and policymakers, serving as an opportunity to combine multi-disciplinary findings, information and experiences on three core aspects of returnee management:

1. prison-exit continuum
2. working with children
3. working with women

The meeting took place online on the 14 and 15 December 2021. The aim of this conclusion paper is to highlight the key outcomes, main points of the discussions and relevant recommendations, including promising practices. The discussions took place against the background of changing realities concerning government initiatives and programmes, as well as individual experiences in Northern Syrian camps and on return.

While repatriation essentially concerns women and children, existing approaches and experiences have been developed for men. At the same time, the understanding of individual radicalisation processes and of the individual transformations after the fall of the Caliphate remains limited.

That said, emerging experiences in European countries in working with this target group and in the prison-exit continuum have led to several important insights, lessons learned and potential ways forward. These are outlined and structured by area of work.

This conclusion paper will elaborate on the main highlights of the discussion, focusing on emerging issues and challenges in the work with returning women, children and along the prison-exit continuum. Subsequently, several recommendations and lessons learned will be outlined, including promising practices.