Return of Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Their Families to the Western Balkans: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as Case Studies

In this paper, the return of terrorist fighters to the Western Balkans region is analyzed as a contemporary security problem. Bearing in mind that, in the period from 2012 to 2016, around 1,200 people from this region joined some terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq, the need for this research is justified in the security context. The author will conduct a comparative analysis of the two biggest countries in this region (Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina). According to official statistics, 49 adult citizens departed from Serbia to the Syrian battlefield, while that number in B&H is about 300 (according to informal data, this number is significantly higher). In-depth interviews (with relevant representatives of state institutions, civil sector and international organizations) and document content analysis (strategic documents, laws, etc.) will be used for data collection. A peculiar challenge of the return of foreign terrorist fighters is depicted in the return of their families as well (women and children), currently situated in Al Hol and Al Roj camps. While the return of 25 citizens (seven men, six women and 12 children) was organized in Bosnia in 2019, in Serbia, the return of women and children was not recorded. These two countries constructed plans for the return of terrorists and their families in phases, and they jointly exchanged experience in this field. However, some issues, such as deradicalization, rehabilitation, reintegration and processing, remain unknown. There is a possibility that the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria will set in motion the return of terrorists and their families to their countries of origin, which will also be a significant security issue for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides analyzing the existing situation, the author aims to predict security risks and threats caused by the return of FTFs and their families to these two Western Balkan countries.