Efforts to Manage and Follow-up 'Foreign Fighters' Returning to their Homelands

How are 'foreign fighters' dealt with by the wider societies they return to? And what can be learned from existing measures and exit/rehabilitation programmes? Is it possible to identify any “best practices”? These are some of the questions the paper focus on by investigating a selected number of existing programs, measures and exit interventions across Europe. The motivation for people's involvement in 'foreign' conflicts are as diverse the individuals' ways of engaging in the conflict. Their reasons for returning and the conditions they return to vary as well. Some are deeply disillusioned with the cause or struggle with post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). Others remain strongly committed to the cause and plan to return to Jihad or even to carry out terrorist attacks in their homelands. Thus, returning 'foreign fighters' represents several types of challenges and potential risks for the societies to which they return. The paper will focus on what we can learn from different intervention and exit/rehabilitation programs in use across Europe.