[Updated] Four new countries added to the Foreign Fighters Knowledge Hub

Four new countries added to the Foreign Fighters Knowledge Hub (FTFKH)!

The Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) Knowledge Hub, an online resource and database developed collaboratively by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), has been expanded to include four additional countries: the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Kosovo and Sweden. This expansion includes comprehensive profiles for each country, detailing their counterterrorism frameworks and providing up-to-date statistics on foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs).

With the addition of the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Kosovo and Sweden the database now covers 36 countries: for each, the Hub offers a detailed overview of preventive, administrative, criminal and rehabilitation measures, alongside statistical data on FTFs. With this newest addition, the FTFKH has expanded its scope in terms of geographical, political and cultural regions. The updates include information on:

• Uzbekistan’s community orientated reintegration programs for women and children returning from conflict zones;
• The Maldives’ domestic policy developments, including preventive strategies, religious education reform and monitoring of returnees, which are shaped by the country having had the highest per capita number of its nationals travelling to join ISIL/Da’esh;
• Sweden’s national strategy on preventing violent extremism which focuses on youth and combatting propaganda;
• Kosovo’s development of a specific  Division for Prevention and Reintegration of Radicalised Persons to assist in the reintegration of FTFs.

In addition, data for 13 countries have been updated, including Algeria, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. These updates include new statistical information and recent policy developments. One such development is the presence of Chinese Uyghur fighters in post-Assad Syria. Recent reports indicate that some have been integrated into military units, have been granted citizenship and their children will receive free education.

About the FTF Knowledge Hub

The FTF Knowledge Hub is an open-access database concerning states’ responses to so-called ‘foreign terrorist fighters’, or as defined by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014): ‘individuals who travel to a State other than their States of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in, terrorist acts or the providing or receiving of terrorist training, including in connection with armed conflict’. The website provides comprehensive and detailed country specific information about FTFs who have travelled to Syria or Iraq from 36 countries. The FTFKH contains FTF-related data, administrative and criminal measures, as well as rehabilitation and prevention policies. The FTFKH is designed as a resource that can be used by policy makers, practitioners, academics, journalists and students.

Provide us with your feedback and suggestions

We welcome the contribution of country-specific information, relevant research or data regarding the states included in the FTF Knowledge Hub. To submit information, please fill in our questionnaire, or send it to input@foreignterroristfighters.info.

For any other questions, suggestions or feedback, please reach out to input@foreignterroristfighters.info. We review the submitted information on a regular basis. 

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ASSER release

The International Crimes Database (ICD), hosted and maintained by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and supported by the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, is a comprehensive resource on international crimes adjudicated by national, as well as international and internationalised courts. In addition to case law on international crimes, the website incorporates general background information about international crimes, scholarly as well as news articles, working papers (ICD Briefs) and relevant links to other useful databases/websites on this topic.

ICCT release

The Rule of Law Responses to Terrorism Programme at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), has compiled the Interlinkages Database a database of domestic cases in which terrorists have been tried for core international crimes. ICCT has collected domestic cases in which terrorists have been cumulatively tried for international crimes and terrorism. This means that the database does not include cases in which alleged terrorists were only prosecuted for core international crimes. Thus, this database presents a unique depository of knowledge concerning effective ways of bringing alleged terrorists to justice for the full range of crimes they have committed. Below is an interactive map and a radar timeline that you can use to explore cumulative prosecutions across Europe. You can learn more about the project as a whole here.