Where are they now?

Where are the European Citizens who joined IS now?

In this section, we provide information on the numbers about European citizens who joined ISIS, who died or imprisoned or living in camps in Iraq and Syria and who are repatriated to European countries. We are aware of the fact that the majority of the people who are held in camps and prisons are Iraqis and Syrians, and non-ISIS supporters. In the framework of our project, however, we are focusing on the Europeans and their repatriations. This is the reason that the numbers here only cover European citizens.

We collected the information below from various resources, but primarily from Radicalization Awareness Network (RAN), which is funded by the EU Commission’s Internal Security Fund. The RAN is managed by the European Commission as a consortium of external partners which provide logistics, technical and administrative support. The complete information about RAN and its practitioners can be found on this website.

According to the RAN’s report more than 42 000 people joined ISIS and were active in its activities from over 120 countries around the world. According to the most updated report by the RAN (2021), the estimated number of Europeans who travelled to ISIS was 5,300. This number has been collected to cover the time period that ISIS was militantly active and expanding in Iraq and Syria from 2012 through 2016 (RAN, 2021). The RAN practitioners estimate that around 1,000 children left together with their parents, and that some 600 were born there.

The highest number of European citizens to join ISIS left from Belgium with significant numbers of Europeans citizens leaving form France, Germany and the United Kingdom as well. Smaller numbers left from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.

In the 2021 report, the RAN practitioners estimate that there are approximately 2,500 to 5,300 people are still in these territories, the exact number varies according to the report. For example, the CJTF-OIR (Lead Inspector General quarterly report on Operation Inherent Resolve (submitted to the US Congress) report estimated that there are 3,000 foreigners, including Europeans (2019: 8). In this report, there are no differentiated numbers of men and women who remained, but it is estimated by the RAN in 2021 report that among these estimated numbers (2500 to 5300 people) around 1,400 of 1,600 children remain in the camps and prisons.

Photo by United Nations Photo

A full and systematically updated website, the Global Repatriations Tracker, can be found here. It shows that the number of repatriations is increasing, specifically in European countries.

After initially dragging their feet, European states accelerated repatriation efforts in the last few years. Yet, there are still European citizens in camps and prisons in Iraq and Syria. In their report, the RAN concludes that most Europeans in the camps and prisons are women and children. A policy brief published by the Egmont Royal Institute of Belgium confirms, however, that the number of Europeans in the camps are unclear.

According the Global Repatriations Tracker website, as of August 2022, 76 women, 1 men (Italy), and 260 children had been repatriated to their European Union countries or to Britain. Please note that these numbers do not include the Europeans who leave from the camps on their own. In the Policy Brief published by the Egmont Royal Institute of Belgium in 2020, the authors report that 53 women vanished with their children since October 2019 (2020: 3). The RAN report from 2021 explain in detail the different strategies of how people manage to escape the camps.

The sources consulted to write this summary are below. These resources were accessed on August 20, 2022 through Germany’s Internet. They may not be available in all countries.