19 September 2020, NIICE Commentary 5974
Sagar N
While the World is busy fighting the pandemic and the economic devastation caused by it, one of the important problems that has been pushed to the backlog, is the status of the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) brides. The Pandemic has crippled the capacity of law enforcement systems, exploiting this, the ISIS executed attacks in Maldives, Iraq, and the Philippines in 2020. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that terrorists are exploiting the COVID-19 Pandemic. Although the ISIS has been defeated, and that approximately ten thousand of them are in ISIS detention centres in Northern Syria under Kurds, most of these detention centres are filled by women and children, who are relatives or widows of the ISIS fighters. With their native states denouncing them, the status of the stateless women and children is unclear.
Today, the counter-terrorism approaches of various nations have been primarily targeting male militants, but women also have played a role in strengthening these terrorist organisations. Women involvement in militant organisations has increased as they perform several activities like birthing next-generation militants/jihadists, managing the logistics and recruiting the new members to the organisations. The world did not recognise women as key players in terrorist organisations until the 1980s, when females starting undertaking major roles in guerrilla wars of southern America. Women have, either willingly or unwillingly, held a variety of roles in these extremist and Islamist terrorist organisations, like Hamas and al-Qaeda. Women’s participation may even be as simple as providing moral support to their male counterparts.
According to certain media reports, since US withdrawal from Iraq in 2006, female suicide attacks have increased and these women have mainly been part of ISIS. The ISIS also had a female brigade which they called as Al-Khansaa, which was established to perform search activities in the state. Both foreign and domestic female recruits in the Islamic state have participated in brutal torture. A recently acquired logbook from a guesthouse in Syria provides important information about 1100 females who joined the organisation, such as the western women who are called as ‘the Muhajirat’.
When the people from rest of the world joined organisations such as ISIS, they burnt their passports and rejected their national identity, especially women from western countries, who were radicalised online by becoming ‘ISIS brides/Jihadi brides’, by marrying terrorists. Since the Islamic State is not recognised by the world, these marriages are not legally valid, and besides this, a number of these brides have experienced sexual torture and extreme violence.
While the erstwhile members of the extremist organisations like ISIS and the like are left adrift, the one challenging question remaining is, should states and their societies re-engage and rehabilitate them, or prosecute them? How firmly are the ideals of their erstwhile organisations stuck in their minds, especially among the followers who crossed the world to join them? These questions remain a concern to many. The US-backed Kurdish forces across the Turkey border give home to thousands of the women and children left behind by terrorist personnel, in their centre. Hundreds of foreign women and children who were once part of an aspirant state or caliphate, are now floating around in Syrian, Turkish and Kurdish detention centres, concentration camps and prisons. Many are waiting to return to their origin countries. They pose a unique dilemma for their native states, on whether or not to include them in society, and even on what to do with children who are too young to understand the politics and obstacles keeping them in camps and detention centres, where resources for growth are scarce. The adult women present the problem that its hard to find out what kind of crimes they have committed beyond the membership of the terrorist organisation, therefore making it impossible to determine their criminal potential.
It is no secret that women also have been part of insurgency across the world, like in ISIS, LTTE, PIRA and PFLP. The responsibility of women in ISIS includes being wives to ISIS soldiers, birthing the next generation of jihadists, and advancing ISIS’ global reach through online recruiting. The International Centre for Study of Radicalisation (ICAR) estimates that out of the 40000 people that joined ISIS from 80 different countries, nearly 8000 are women and children. After the defeat of ISIS and such extreme organisations, those who are left behind, possess the ideological commitment and practical skills which pose a threat to their home countries.
The states across the world are either revoking the citizenship of such women and children, or ignore their responsibility. The most famous case is of Shamima Begum, a UK citizen married to an ISIS fighter whose citizenship was revoked by the UK government. In other cases, like Hoda Muthana of the USA and Iman Osman of Tunisia, same steps have been taken. Recently, Tooba Gondal, an ISIS bride, who is now in a detention camp in northern Syria, begged to go home to the UK in a public apology.
The American president Donald Trump issued a statement saying women who joined ISIS cannot return. The NATO deputy head said “…returning ISIS fighters and brides must face full rigours of the law”. Revoking the citizenship and making someone stateless is illegal under international law and it is also important to know how gendered these cases are because the UK have successfully prosecuted Mohammad Uddin and the USA has also done so. Stripping off their citizenship itself a punishment before proper trial takes place, and the only good it does is that the state can take their hands off dealing with such cases. Samantha Elhassani is the only American who repatriated from Iraq so far and pleaded guilty in court for supporting ISIS. Meanwhile, France is trying to track French citizens who joined the ISIS, and has extradited few, who are now under trial in Bagdad.
As experts and political analysts say, “countries should take responsibility for their own citizens”, because failure to do so will also make the long-term situation more dangerous as jihadists will try to find a hideout and turn into militant groups, for protection and money. The children, the second-generation ISIS, need cultural and rehabilitation centres and this is an international problem. These women known as jihadists brides suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in most cases, and many are pregnant or have given birth to multiple children in ISIS territory.
In some countries, travelling abroad to join the insurgencies in North Africa and Syria was not always a criminal act. Sweden criminalised such acts recently, but to prosecute them, the proof of offences committed in the conflict zone is difficult to collect and most countries in the world do not allow pre-trial detention for more than 14 days. Problems occurring with different national Laws on extradition and capital punishment, and with prosecuting such women in conflict countries, is also a challenge for states. Since Kurdish forces have signalled that they cannot bring all the prisoners into justice the home countries will have to act or else it might create a long-term dangerous situation. With the civil war in Syria nearing its end, it is time to address these issues because since there are more ISIS fighters in Kurdish prisons and detention centres than ever, and they could be influenced to join rebels who are fighting the regime of Assad in last standing province of Idlib.
If the governments reject the repatriation applications, then they will be signalling that their action is essential for national security, and thus asserting that failed or poorly resourced states are better equipped to handle potential extremists. The criminal system in Iraq is corrupt and grave human rights violations have been reported, which creates the risk of further radicalisation. One should not forget that even citizenship of Osama bin laden was stripped, which did not stop him from forming al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. If the citizens commit crimes and forget their responsibility, then the states must bring them to justice instead of stripping citizenship. The states must come with a solution for this problem before it’s too late. Setting up an international tribunal to deal with these cases would be a great start, but these tribunals are time-consuming and expensive, and so a stable funding and conference mechanism must be worked out.
States must act as a responsible actor in the international system. Jihadist terrorism is a global problem and states must act together to deal with it because with nearly 40,000 fighters joining the caliphate from across the world only shows how global and deeply rooted the phenomenon is. Instead of stripping their citizenship, states must find a way to act together for the peace and security of the international community.
