RAN Study Visit - Adolescent boys returning from Da’esh territory, Brussels 13 December 2023

The safe repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of adolescent boys to Europe from the conflict zone of Iraq and Syria is a pressing concern for EU Member States (MSs). In addition to the general multi-professional management of ‘returnees’, this particular group of returnees gives rise to gendered and age-specific challenges for practitioners and policymakers alike. This extremely small number of boys are, in the first instance, victims, as they were involuntarily brought to Da’esh territory, and their experiences while living in the so-called ‘caliphate’ and since its downfall have been traumatising. 

At the same time, some have received weapons training, been subject to intense indoctrination and been exposed to a variety of factors associated with radicalisation leading to violent extremism. The paper captures the main insights from a RAN Practitioners study visit to the Union of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG) in Brussels on 13 December 2023, where expert participants from a number of EU MSs and other European countries discussed these challenges and the different approaches available to them. Through an exploration of a detailed case study, participants were able to identify critical junctures, knowledge and information requirements, and future considerations for the management of adolescent returnees.

Some overarching lessons from the study visit are: 

• At the point of repatriation, information is usually incomplete, hastily distributed and there are no bespoke resources or services in place due to the speed of return. This is an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of the need to protect the operational integrity of the repatriation mission, such that the security services cannot disclose information sooner. This requires rapid decision-making on the part of the welfare and policing agencies at home. Their professional judgements must be premised on adapting existing resources and services and which leave open as many options as possible for rehabilitation and reintegration within available national frameworks. 
• As yet, security concerns regarding this cohort have not been realised. Expert participants reported from their experiences that adolescent boys were a) often coerced and unwilling witnesses (and sometimes participants) in violence rather than active and supportive actors; b) behavioural and environmental changes undermine ideological commitments and norms learnt while living in the conflict zones; and c) adolescence, insecurity and trauma are often better explanations for ‘risky’ behaviours upon repatriation than radicalisation. 
• The longer children and adolescents are held in detention centres in Iraq and Syria, the more challenging their successful reintegration and rehabilitation becomes. This should not override the imperative and MSs’ human rights obligations for their repatriation, but instead indicates that more specialised and traumainformed support will be required. 

This conclusion paper begins with a summary of the discussion and the presentations offered by Flemish authorities during the study visit as well as the insights delivered from the case study. It then addresses three overarching themes: masculinity and adolescence; security concerns; professional wellbeing and case management. These themes are highlighted in response to the particularities of this cohort (adolescent boys returning from former Da’esh territories) but are relevant to other returnee cohorts. The paper then offers some recommendations from the study day, before indicating ‘next steps’ and other sources of information.