Overview

By being one of the contributors to the GCTF Rome Memorandum of Good Practices on Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Violent Extremist Offenders, the topic is an important part of ICCT’s work. With the aim of implementing these Good Practices, the Centre developed a Training Course on the topic which so far has been delivered twice in the Philippines. In 2015, ICCT also started with the development of an Intake and Risk Assessment Tool in collaboration with other experts in the field. The Centre’s focus on this topic has so far mainly been on the prison setting, in both its publications and projects, with the goal of assisting governments in designing and implementing effective rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for Violent Extremist Offenders, and to minimise the spread of violent extremist ideology in prison settings.

Featured

Perspective | 19 Feb 2019

Reintegration in Indonesia: Extremists, Start-ups and Occasional Engagements

In this Perspective, Cameron Sumpter discusses the transitions back into society among recently released extremist prisoners in Indonesia.

Policy Brief | 19 Jan 2023 Managing the Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Their Families: Malaysian Experience
This policy brief explores Malaysia’s approach in managing the returning fighters and their families in the post-IS phase.
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Perspective | 16 Sep 2022 The European Court of Human Rights Sitting on the Fence?: Its Ruling and Impact on the Repatriation of European Children from North-East Syria
This perspective analyses the recent ECtHR ruling and explains its impact on the policy of European countries to repatriate children that are still in the Northeast Syria camps.
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Perspective | 16 Nov 2020 Vienna Attack: the Path of a Prospective (Foreign) Terrorist Fighter
The recent Vienna attack highlights the challenge of effectively managing the risk posed by known violent extremists. In this Perspective, the authors reflect on the attacker's actions leading up to the attack, and whether the authorities could have prevented it.
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Policy Brief | 8 Jun 2020 The Future of the Islamic State’s Women: Assessing Their Potential Threat
In this Policy Brief, Jessica Davis explores the role of women in the Islamic State and presents an approach to assessing their potential threat.
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Policy Brief | 2 Jun 2020 Kosovo’s Experience in Repatriating Former Foreign Fighters
This policy brief examines Kosovo’s response to former foreign fighters and lessons EU member states can learn in handling this complex issue.
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Policy Brief | 6 May 2020 The Last Frontier: Prisons and Violent Extremism in Mali
This policy brief uses data gathered from the growing number of Violent Extremist Offenders in Malian prisons to provide an overview of and recommendations for implementing rehabilitation interventions.
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Policy Brief | 26 Feb 2020 The Dutch Approach to Extremist Offenders
This Policy Brief focuses on the Dutch approach to dealing with extremist offenders, and analyses Dutch policy choices that have been made from the perspectives of prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
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Policy Brief | 27 Nov 2019 Nigeria: Community’s Perception of Legitimate Authority Matters for Rehabilitation and Reintegration
In this Policy Brief, ICCT Programme Manager Faisal Khan & Isioma Kemakolam present policy recommendations implementable by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on community inclusion in R&R programming across Nigeria & the Sahel after conducting on the field research.
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Policy Brief | 17 Oct 2019 Women in Islamic State: From Caliphate to Camps
In this Policy Brief, Gina Vale charts the evolution of women’s ideological commitment, adopted roles, and activism for Islamic State from the ‘caliphate’ to post-territorial internment camps.

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Perspective | 30 Sep 2019 Remembering Terrorism: The Case of Norway
In the wake of a Utøya memorial being defaced with a swastika, Jeanine de Roy van Zwuijdewijn writes on the commemoration and memoralisation of terrorist events in the case of Norway and Anders Behring Breivik.
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Perspective | 26 Aug 2019 The Caliphate’s Women and Children—What Role can the Family Courts play? (Part 2)
In the Part 2, Dr. Rumyana van Ark focuses on such decision in the context of children who were en route to Syria before they and their parents were prevented from travelling further.
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Perspective | 7 Aug 2019 The Caliphate’s Women and Children – What Role can the Family Courts play? (Part 1)
In Part 1, of a two-part series, Dr. Rumyana van Ark (née Grozdanova) evaluates the role that family courts can play in de-radicalisation efforts through an analysis of the case of B, a sixteen year-old girl who attempted to leave the UK for Syria in 2014.
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Research Paper | 27 May 2019 Providing Psychosocial Care to Child Soldiers Living in Post-IS Iraq
In this Research Paper, Jan Ilhan Kizilhan discusses the need for better psychosocial support for former child soldiers living in post-IS Iraq as rehabilitation and reintegration measure.
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Policy Brief | 12 Apr 2019 The Role of Formers in Countering Violent Extremism
In this Policy Brief, Marina Tapley and Gordon Clubb examines the role former extremists and former combatants have in countering violent extremism (CVE).
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Perspective | 6 Mar 2019 The Repatriation of Foreign Fighters and Their Families: Options, Obligations, Morality and Long-Term Thinking
In this Perspective, Tanya Mehra and Christophe Paulussen discuss the issue of (possible) repatriation of foreign fighters and their families, especially from Syria. They address several policy options by taking into account legal, moral and (long-term) security perspectives.
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Perspective | 19 Feb 2019 Reintegration in Indonesia: Extremists, Start-ups and Occasional Engagements
In this Perspective, Cameron Sumpter discusses the transitions back into society among recently released extremist prisoners in Indonesia.
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Report | 23 Aug 2018 It Takes a Village: An Action Agenda on the Role of Civil Society in the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Those Associated With and Affected by Violent Extremism
This report examines the role of civil society organisation (CSOs) in the rehabilitation and reintegration of those associated with and affected by violent extremism. It builds on the work conducted by ICCT and the Global Center on Cooperative Security, together with four subregional partners over the past two-and-a-half years in Africa and South-East Asia.
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Policy Brief | 12 Jul 2018 Returning Indonesian Extremists: Unclear Intentions and Unprepared Responses
In this Policy Brief, Cameron Sumpter analyses the impact of returning Foreign Fighters to Indonesia. Sumpter recommends that intrastate coordination of CVE and CT initiatives is required to clearly define the role of stakeholders.
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Policy Brief | 2 May 2018 Capacity-Building Challenges: Identifying Progress and Remaining Gaps in Dealing with Foreign (Terrorist) Fighters
In this Policy Brief, Walle Bos, Dr. Bibi van Ginkel and Tanya Mehra address capacity-building challenges in relation to the implementation of good practices in dealing with (returning) Foreign (Terrorist) Fighters.
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Report | 27 Nov 2017 Action Agenda on Violent Extremist Offenders in Prison in Mali
This Action Agenda discusses the background of the conflict in Mali as well as some of the issues faced in Mali with regards to violent extremist offenders in prison. It provides recommendations and proposed activities in four action areas to address concerns and needs identified by ICCT and UNICRI throughout the initiatives implemented by both organisations so far.
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Report | 14 Sep 2017 Correcting the Course: Advancing Juvenile Justice Principles for Children Convicted of Violent Extremist Offenses
This Report, prepared jointly by the Global Center and ICCT, puts forth guiding principles, recommendations, and considerations for the detention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of juveniles convicted of terrorism and violent extremism-related crimes in a manner that upholds the principles and safeguards of juvenile justice.
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Research Paper | 28 Aug 2017 Children of the Caliphate: Young IS Returnees and the Reintegration Challenge
In this Research Paper, Liesbeth van der Heide and Jip Geenen assess what sets young or juvenile Islamic State (IS) returnees apart from adult returnees or young criminals and discuss the potential for rehabilitation.
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Perspective | 14 Jul 2017 Tackling the Surge of Returning Foreign Fighters
With the defeat in Mosul and the noose tightening around IS' stronghold in Raqqa, the tide has begun to reverse and the steady trickle of returnees is beginning to pick up pace. This Perspective looks at ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to dealing with them.
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Report | 12 Dec 2016 Rehabilitating Juvenile Violent Extremist Offenders in Detention
Developed for the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s Detention and Reintegration Working Group, this paper puts forth guiding principles, recommendations, and considerations for the detention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of juveniles convicted of terrorism and violent extremism-related crimes in a manner that upholds the principles and safeguards of juvenile justice.
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Perspective | 12 Sep 2016 Juvenile Violent Extremist Offenders: Peer Pressure or Seasoned Soldiers?
As governments devise ways to address the issue of foreign fighters and terrorism at home and abroad, the phenomenon of juvenile violent extremist offenders is becoming increasingly important and the question of what to do with them once they are apprehended more and more pertinent.
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Perspective | 20 Jul 2016 The Nice Attack and the Limits of Security Responses
In this Op-Ed, ICCT Research Fellow Bibi van Ginkel compares the profile of the perpetrator of the Nice Attacks to existing research on Foreign Fighters, pointing to the limits of the security-centered approach France has adopted.
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Perspective | 10 May 2016 Countering Violent Extremism in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq
Now that the Islamic State appears to be losing ground, and the most imminent threat for the Kurdistan Region in Iraq seems to be over, the time has come for the Kurdistan Regional Government to develop a plan to counter violent extremism.
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Policy Brief | 19 Jan 2016 Rehabilitation for Foreign Fighters? Relevance, Challenges and Opportunities for the Criminal Justice Sector
This Policy Brief aims to inform the current debate on integrating rehabilitation into the overall approach to foreign fighters by highlighting the challenges and opportunities within the criminal justice sector response.
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Policy Brief | 26 Oct 2015 Reintegrating Violent Extremist Offenders: Policy Questions and Lessons Learned
In this article published in the framework of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, ICCT Research Fellow Dr. Tinka Veldhuis discusses rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for violent extremist offenders.
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Report | 9 May 2013 Additional Guidance on the Role of Psychologists/Psychology in Rehabilitation Programmes
This Meeting Note reports on the expert workshop on The Role of Psychology in Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Violent Extremist Offenders, which was convened together with the Hedayah centre.
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Research Paper | 25 Feb 2013 The Need for More & Structural Data Analysis in Detention and Rehabilitation of Extremist Offenders
The authors suggest that increased and structural data analysis is essential to produce evidence-based policies that are tailored to countering violent extremism.
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Research Paper | 2 Mar 2012 Designing Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programmes for Violent Extremist Offenders: A Realist Approach
In this Research Paper, Dr. Tinka Veldhuis makes an argument for a Realist approach to rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for violent extremist offenders in prison.
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Rehabilitation & Reintegration

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