Marco de Swart
Marco de Swart is an Associate Fellow at ICCT. With a background in political science and development studies, Marco started his career at the Radboud University as a junior lecturer in Political Philosophy, in Dutch Development Aid, and in International Development Cooperation in 1998. He fulfilled several advisory and consultancy posts related to humanitarian and conflict affairs, governance & civil society issues, human rights, and popular campaigning & advocacy. In Rwanda, Marco worked as programme manager with Norwegian People’s Aid (Civil Society & Justice) and before joining ICCT, he was Oxfam Novib’s programme manager for Governance & Active Citizenship. Rule of law and human rights have always featured prominently in his work.
Marco’s international experience range from posts in Central-Africa (four years in Rwanda), East Africa (one year in Tanzania), North America (six months in Canada), to regular missions to several countries in Africa, the MENA region, Asia and the Caucasus.
Follow Marco de Swart on Twitter @mdeswart.
Photo: Studio Oostrum
The casualties caused by armed violence in Mali have increased fourfold between 2016 and 2019, with young people being among the most affected by the situation. Although many initiatives have been launched to prevent and counter violent extremism in Mali, there remains a gap in understanding the interplay of factors that lead persons—especially young people—to support […]
The latest publication in the Strategic Communication project, this paper details the role of citizen journalists reporting on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. With primary source research and interviews with media, the author examines the challenges reporters in these areas face. This report is part of a wider project, led by the International Centre […]
This report offers a concise, comprehensive, and critical overview of the empirical findings available on the background and possible motivations foreign fighters. It focuses on the young Western men and women who became jihadist foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. The analysis compares thirty-four reports and academic articles published between 2014 and 2019. The analysis […]