Recently, a woman from the U.S. and another from the U.K. who were part of the Islamic State sought to return home, but were refused entry.
Over 40,000 people from 80 countries joined the IS till the fall of the ‘Caliphate’ in 2017. Only a small percentage have returned to the country from where they left.
The numbers are from an International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation report dated July 2018, which collated the data from 283 official govt. reports. Where government sources were not available, academic or institutional publications and media reports were used to put together the data. Some of the data was also put together individually on a case-by-case basis.
The trajectories of IS foreign affiliates are diverse, according to the report.
Several of them were killed in Syria and Iraq; some were executed by IS from within their own ranks; detained by regional authorities; involved in detainee exchanges; repatriated to their home nations; in third-party countries; or whose status is simply unknown.
Note: If you cannot see the visualisations below, please click here .
The missing women
The percentage of women who returned to their countries of departure is minuscule (about 5%).
Where were they from?
A region-wise break-up shows that about 45% of the IS affiliates were from West Asia and North Africa. About 9% of these affiliates returned to their countries of departure. There were also a large number of them from Europe.
Back to base
About 5,000 affiliates from Russia (including Chechnya and Dagestan) travelled to Syria/ Iraq to join the IS. Only around 8% of them have returned. The scatter plot shows the affiliates from each country as a percentage of total fighters and the percentage of affiliates who returned to their countries of departure.
The scatter plot below shows affiliates (as a % of total) on the vertical axis and % of returnees on the horizontal axis. You can use the dropdown to select a country.
The report noted, "Women and minors detained in Iraq and Syria require specific attention including their access to fair trial, and potential to radicalise while detained."
It also raised concerns that many IS orphans may become Stateless and "fall through the cracks of repatriation and rehabilitation efforts."
Definitions
Affiliate: Person who traveled to Iraq or Syria and joined the IS in some capacity. Returnee: Affiliate who returned to his or her country of departure (those who travelled to third countries not included)
The Islamic State has been active in some form since 2007. The IS carried out about 6,600 attacks in the 2007-2018 period, killing around 43,516 people. Here's a breakdown of IS attacks year-wise:
