Muhammad almost lost his life one day when he walked on the street with a small mobile phone in his pocket. It was the time when Daesh (also known as ISIS) had instilled its terror regime in Mosul, the city which got to be the terrorists most important stronghold in Iraq. The terrorists ‘police’ shouted at him from the distance. Neither the “normal” trousers Muhammad was wearing nor the mobile phone which they had not discovered yet, were permitted. He panicked.

“I began banging on the houses’ walls. I was so in fear, I didn’t realize they were not doors. I couldn’t breathe. If they searched me and they found my mobile, they would kill me”

“I began banging on the houses’ walls. I was so in fear, I didn’t realize they were not doors. I couldn’t breathe. If they searched me and they found my mobile, they would kill me”, he remembers now on the other side of the phone line from Mosul. He started to cough so loud, that other people began to gather around him to try and help him. They offered him water. Given the crowd that had come together, ISIS guards left. “Those people saved my life”, he says convinced.

“We want Christians to come back”

Today Muhammad is one of Sawaed al Mosuliya volunteers (Arms of Mosul), an NGO which has restored Saint Thomas church in the heart of Mosul’s city centre. The took out the rubble, cleaned up and reinstalled the light.

The terrorists destroyed the church, as well as the famous Al Noori mosque. Saint Thomas served as prison during ISIS regime. Muhammad explains the Christian temple means a lot to Mosul’s people after the horror they had to endure: “During the liberation battles in Mosul, there was no running water. The only source of water was an old well inside the church. This church was a source of life”.

“During the liberation battles in Mosul, there was no running water. The only source of water was an old well inside the church. This church was a source of life”

“Since I was a child, Muslim and Christian families used to visit each other for the religious feasts, such as Christmas. There was a church where we used to go to. I miss that, I want those traditions to come back”, Muhammad adds.

As for Ziad, the volunteers’ coordinator, he recalls that before the terrorists took the city, he shared life with his neighbours and friends without caring about the religion of one another: “It wasn’t an issue. We didn’t even know who was Christian”. But now he knows 15 families on his street and wants to rebuild their houses to help them come back.  

Why focusing on the houses of Christians, given that Daesh persecuted everyone, also Muslims? “Because tens of thousands of people who fled are coming back, but not even one Christian person who lived here has done the same”, he explains. Two of his best friends used to live in those houses and they call him almost every day to know how the situation is. “They want to come back, but they’re afraid”.

>>> You may also read: Three religions under the same roof: this is Berlin’s next revolution<<<

Their work restoring the historic Saint Thomas church, thanks to the financial support of USAID, was the first step to be able to use the temple again for a religious service. At the same time, it revealed a symbol of hope in the city being reborn. “When we published the pictures on internet, people from other parts of Mosul began asking where this church was. They wanted to visit it. Some of my Christian friends cried and thanked us”, Muhammad says.

“Since I was a child, Muslim and Christian families used to visit each other for the religious feasts, such as Christmas. There was a church where we used to go to. I miss that, I want those traditions to come back”

They had already planned an interreligious event in the church just before the coronavirus pandemic exploded, so it had to be postponed. Now there is a man from Erbil who goes from time to time sent by the Christian community of that city. He is finishing the electric work on the church. Ziad and Muhammad have seen how the neighbours of the area usually go to him to offer him some water or other kind of help.

The volunteers of Sawaed al Mosuliya were founded in June 2018, when they began cleaning up the rubble and rubbish of tens of houses. The founded a supermarket whose incomes go to the people in need. They also help orphans and take part in interreligious events hand in hand with Christians and Jazidis in favour of a peaceful together living. “We’re doing all we can so that everyone comes back. They’re all welcome”, Ziad underlines.

Bring back normality to defeat ISIS

When the terrorists took Mosul back in 2014, Ziad was doing his master, he had a shop and lived with his family. “Life was good. When Daesh arrived, their mission was to destroy life in the city and its residents. They forced me to flee to Turkey with my family. They took my house and my shop”.

Ziad estimates 25.000 homes were destroyed. Now he wants to “bring back normality as a way to defeat Daesh”. He got married one month ago, has a minimarket and his doing his PhD in Modern History at the Faculty of Education. He hopes to find a full-time job when he finishes his studies.

Muhammad had to close his mobile phone shop when Daesh arrived, and his Economics studies had to wat. Instead of graduating in 2015, when the terrorists dominated the city, he graduated in 2018. He stayed in the city, but his brothers -who worked in the media sector- had to flee to Europe and they have not seen each other since.

Both of them dream of a “stable and peaceful life” in their city. Together with other volunteers, they will go on cleaning up the rubble of war and the damage the terrorists left behind.

“We’re doing all we can so that everyone comes back. They’re all welcome”

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La entrada Muslims bring church back to life in Iraq after being destroyed by ISIS: “We want Christians to feel welcome” se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

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“Thousands of civilians were killed or injured in the US-led Coalition’s offensive to rid Raqqa of ISIS, whose snipers and mines had turned the city into a death trap,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International (AI) adviser said in a statement. “Many of the air bombardments were inaccurate and tens of thousands of artillery strikes were indiscriminate, so it is no surprise they killed and injured many hundreds of civilians.” Rovera assures as well that, on the ground, she discovered that the coalition was providing “little or no protection to civilians trapped in the city.”

The United States, France and the United Kingdom supported the advance of Kurdish forces on the ground with an air offensive. The “unguided artillery” have a margin of error of more than 100 meters, which makes their use “indiscriminate” in an urban context with civilians present, according to Amnesty.

“Many of the aerial bombings were inaccurate, and tens of thousands of artillery attacks were indiscriminate”

– Donatella Rovera, AI

The Syrian city of Raqqa was governed for almost four years by the terrorists until in 2017 they were defeated by the military coalition led by the United States. “ISIS had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and tortured and killed whoever dared to oppose them,” Amnesty International recalls. The NGO has previously documented how terrorists used “civilians as human shields, mined exit routes, set up checkpoints to restrict movement and fired at those who tried to flee.”

In their attempt to free the citizens of Raqqa from Daesh and undermine their territorial power in what was considered their “capital”, “thousands” of American, British and French air strikes and dozens of US artillery attacks were carried out between June and October 2017. Amnesty International says its data show that hundreds of civilians died as a “direct result”of that military operation.

The human rights organization research teams spent about two months in Raqqa when the battle was still ongoing. It visited more than 200 strike locations and interviewed more than 400 witnesses and survivors.

In addition, more than 3,000 activists from 124 different countries analyzed more than two million frames of satellite images. Amnesty notes that the organization’s digital verification body, based in six universities around the world, analyzed and authenticated the video images taken during the battle.

In collaboration with Airwars organization, they analyzed open source data in real time and after the battle – including “thousands” of social media and other materials – to create a database of more than 1,600 civilians who, according to the investigation, died due to the coalition attacks. Both organizations have compiled the names of more than a thousand victims; Amnesty International has verified 641 of these directly on the ground, in Raqqa, and claims to have “convincing information from multiple sources about the rest”.

“The coalition has to investigate what went wrong in Raqqa and learn the lesson so as to not inflict such tremendous suffering on civilians trapped in future military operations”

– Chris Woods, Airwars

The NGO regrets that the international coalition has only admitted to the deaths of 159 civilians for their attacks and claims that they do not investigate on the ground or talk to the victims.

“The Coalition needs to fully investigate what went wrong at Raqqa and learn from those lessons, to prevent inflicting such tremendous suffering on civilians caught in future military operations,” said Chris Woods, director of Airwars.

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La entrada Amnesty International claims the US led coalition killed 1,600 civilians in Raqqa during the battle against ISIS se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Saddened by the terror attacks in New Zealand, he thinks they could have been prevented with security measures against far-right extremists and terrorists instead of focusing only -or mainly- on radicals favouring Daesh [ISIS in its Arabic transcription]. At the same time, he warns about hate speech contributing to an atmosphere that encourages more violence from all sides.

Salam Plan has talked to this researcher of the international SETA think tank during his visit to Madrid where he presented the results of the report at Casa Árabe (Arab House), an institution which is part of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Spain. He gives some hints to prevent Islamophobia from rising more and calls up on everybody to tackle the problem.

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How do you feel some days after the New Zealand attacks happened? Do you think the international community has reacted as expected, as it should have done?

I feel saddened by this very tragic event, of course because of the lives which have been lost, some of them children. But at the same time, I feel saddened that this could have been prevented, if the necessary precautions had been taken before.

Why do I say this? Because this has happened before, with Anders Breivik in Norway, and this should have been a wake-up call for everybody of how far the far-right terrorism advanced, not only in Europe, but internationally. We see the results of this in the United States, the attack against a synagogue carried out by a far-right terrorist. And there were other attacks also against Muslims in Canada[, UK]…

“The security apparatus in Europe has to take this issue seriously, tackle the far-right radicalisation. This way we will prevent not only future attacks by the far-right but also future attacks by Daesh, because they are feeding each other”

If the necessary precautions had been taken against the far-right rise and the far-right radicalization had been taken seriously, I think this could have been prevented. Because, consider: if you are a radical Muslim and you are searching on the internet or watching the videos of Daesh [Arabic name for ISIS], you will be in trouble quite easily: the intelligence services will detect you. But this is not the case with the far-right. They operate more freely, and I think that’s why these attacks are happening. That doesn’t mean that you can prevent everything, because there will be some lone wolves all the time.

I hope the future attacks will be prevented, because the atmosphere is quite ripe for these attacks. Unfortunately, this might happen anywhere in Europe nowadays. I think the security apparatus in Europe has to take this issue seriously, tackle the far-right radicalisation. This way we will prevent not only future attacks by the far-right but also future attacks by Daesh, because they are feeding each other. After this attack [in New Zealand], Daesh called for fresh attacks against the West or the Christians. This is a vicious circle and innocent people are getting killed.

>>> You may also read: Attacks against mosques are more usual than you might think: they are committed by anti-Muslim terrorists and also by groups like ISIS <<<

You talk about security measures, but what about the discourse to help prevent this? You just mentioned Daesh itself called for revenge, but Daesh itself attacks Muslims.

Yes, the majority of the victims of Daesh are Muslims. After these attacks [in New Zealand] there were some calls, especially in Turkey [, where I am based]: some people would say we should call this “Christian terrorism”.

I objected this, and many people objected this, because this doesn’t have anything to do with Christianity. You can justify violence with anything. There are some radical Buddhists, and some radical Orthodox… that doesn’t mean we blame all the Christians. That is why we need to be really careful about the rhetoric, because the rhetoric makes this kind of attacks possible.

People would think ‘Islamophobia is only hate speech, what’s the problem? I don’t like Muslims’. But it’s not just the rhetoric. Rhetoric, with time, turns into action and creates violence. The rhetoric has to change and there is a need for a political acknowledgement of the problem.

“The problems with Islamophobia and the far-right need to be acknowledged. Unfortunately, mainstream politicians are adopting the far-right ideas and their narratives”

First Islamophobia has to be acknowledged as a problem; many of the European countries are refusing the fact that there is a problem with Islamophobia. Even the European Union has now a coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred, but not anti-Muslim racism or Islamophobia.

Also, the problem with the far-right needs to be acknowledged. Unfortunately, mainstream politicians are adopting the far-right ideas and their narratives, and they are reluctant to challenge the far-right directly.

In your report you mention that Islamophobia does not only affect far-right politicians, but the whole range of them. How come?

Mainstream politicians are now under a lot of pressure in Europe. They cannot find a solution to the far-right; the only solution they see is what happened in Austria. The Christian democratic party ÖVP were a mainstream, reasonable party with a long tradition, but when the far-right started rising, they chose a young leader, [Sebastian] Kurz. He has muted his party more to the far-right. That was his solution to the problem, and he has become now a kind of the far-right leader. And that’s replicating itself in other European countries.

Now the three secret services in Austria are in the hands of the far-right [Government ally, Heinz- Christian] Strache.

For a certain amount of time the politicians were silent about the problem and at a certain point, they realized it’s unstoppable. (…) Islamophobia we find it also in the left party, in the Christian democrats… it has become a new form of racism that is acceptable to people.

“Islamophobia has become a new form of racism that is acceptable to people. We have far-right Islamophobia, but we also have Liberalist Islamophobia and Leftist Islamophobia”

May you give some examples?

Some people in the Green Party [in Germany] are calling for the headscarf ban. Or the former candidate of CDU, Friedrich Merz, said “We cannot allow Muslim children to get indoctrinated in Q’ran schools”.

Of course, we have far-right Islamophobia, but we also have Liberalist Islamophobia and Leftist Islamophobia.

Many feminists are in favour of banning the headscarf by saying ‘we are empowering the Muslim women’. Ok, there might be some Muslim women, youngsters, who may be forced by their families, but the overwhelming majority of them are choosing it by their own will. In France they are not allowed to study at the universities. Is this empowering women?

>>> You may read: Muslim European women claim their place in feminism<<<

In Spain now there is much of a debate going on whether the conservative Popular Party and liberal Ciudadanos should establish a cordon-sanitaire against far-right Vox in the next general election.

I think they should [establish a cordon sanitaire]. The cordon sanitaire [in Europe] was there, but it has disappeared. Look at the Austrian example. In the year 2000 [far-right leader] Jörg Haider became part of the [governing] coalition with his party. There was a big outcry in Europe, there was a diplomatic embargo against Austria.

” The ‘cordon sanitaire’ in Europe was there, but it has disappeared. Islamophobia is a threat to the democratic foundations of Europe”

Today, his party is again part of the coalition in a much stronger way. Nobody says a thing. The cordon sanitaire has disappeared. Why? Because of the Islamophobic narrative and discourse. If this is the problem of Muslims, I think everybody needs to rethink about it. If you let the far-right become normalized, it will just ruin the European Union. So, who is going to lose from this? Muslims? Not only. Islamophobia is a threat to the democratic foundations of Europe. We see the results. I hope New Zealand is a wake-up call for measures to be taken (…).

We need courageous leaders and civil society activists to tackle this problem. But many people think Islamophobia is a Muslims problem, it’s not our problem. Well, I don’t think so. If you allow this fire burn here, it will affect others (…).

Common people might have a prejudice against Islam and Muslims and common people in Turkey also have prejudices against Germans or Christians. This has to be tackled, of course, (but) that’s normal. The problem starts when this starts to become a policy and made into law, based on these notions of segregating people. We are talking more of a political problem.

>>> You may also read: Alicia and Aladdin, the beautiful love story of a Catholic and a Muslim<<<

In your report you call for Islamophobia to be approached in the laws, just like the UN and OSCE ask. But from what you are telling me, it doesn’t seem this could become real any time soon.

No, I don’t think so. There is a strong opposition. Islamophobes say Islamophobia is a combat term developed by Islamists to reject any kind of criticism against Islam. Of course, we can critize Muslims and Islam, but the important thing is how we do this.

Why do you think it is so important that Islamophobia is put on paper, what would it help?

It would mean that the problem is acknowledged, it would help to record Islamophobic hate crime into a separate category. We would have statistics of what is going on the streets in terms of hate speech and attacks against Muslims and then we can talk about the problem. But if you don’t acknowledge the problem politically, then you are not willing to tackle the problem (…) and no actions are taken against this.

“Of course, we can critize Muslims and Islam. Common people might have a prejudice against Islam and in Turkey also against Christians. This has to be tackled, but the problem starts when this becomes a policy and turns into law”

According to a European survey promoted by the European Union and mentioned in your report, 12% of Muslims have reported discrimination to the authorities. Do you think that number is according to reality?

I think that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In Germany, we have 900 cases reported to the police. Many Muslims are not really reporting these cases to the police in Europe. First, many are not aware of the reporting mechanisms. Second, they might be socially isolated or very close to the people who are attacking them: the employer, teacher… Also, they are not really trusting the authorities due to fear that they will not be taken seriously, which happens.

In that survey it also came out 76% of Muslims feel attached to the country they live in. Well, I guess it’s because in many cases -may be most of them- it is because it is their own country, isn’t it? And there is always this idea of talking about Muslims as strangers or foreigners.

This is the main notion you hear: Muslims are living in ghettos, they’re not integrated, they’re not part of the society… well, look at the numbers. We are talking about 3^rd and 4^th generations living in Europe, they’re already European Muslims.

Which country would you say is the more Islamophobic European country?

It is really difficult to assess, we need to establish criteria. We’re just at the beginning of the process of uncovering the problem. I can tell the situation in France is quite bad for Muslims, in terms of political representation, which is quite low compared with the population. They’re not represented.

The rhetoric in Hungary and the Czech Republic is really radical against Muslims and there are almost no Muslims there, it’s like 0.001% of the population. But if you look at the rhetoric of the leaders of those countries it is as if next day the Muslims will take over Hungary or the Czech Republic.

You are presenting the third annual report on European Islamophobia and in June you will present the next one. Have you noticed a rise in these years?

What we’re seeing is that there are more violent attacks against Muslims. There is a case in Czech Republic, where a far-right person has tried to fake a terror attack against Czechs, he cut down trees on train lines twice and then he wrote fake letters in Arabic in order to fake a Daesh attack. He was arrested but was given a really minor sentence in the Court, because he had to take medicines for his high blood-pressure problem and that might affect his ability to think. That does also show the legal aspect of this issue.

“There are worrying signs that the far-right is increasing its activity to carry out attacks. The far-right is organized, there are training camps in Russia and Ukraine. There might be more terror attacks against Muslims in Europe”

There are worrying signs that the far-right is increasing its activity to carry out attacks. And that’s why I say, and I warn that there might be more (terror) attacks against Muslims in Europe and precautions must be taken.

So Muslims cannot feel safe in Europe?

The don’t already after what happened in New Zealand. It might happen everywhere.

It already happened in Europe as well but in a lower scale when it comes to the number of victims. In the UK there were two terror attacks against mosques…

Atmosphere is ripe, the infrastructure is there, far-right is organized, there are training camps in Russia and Ukraine… It’s just a matter of time.

That’s scary.

It is scary, yes.

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La entrada Expert warns about more terror attacks against Muslims in Europe if politicians don’t tackle Islamophobia se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

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Muslims in the United Kingdom have suffered two attacks on mosques in London in recent years. In both cases they were abuses or attempts of abuse at the exit of the sentence. The 48-year-old British terrorist Darren Osborne was sentenced to life imprisonment for his attack on June 19, 2017 outside the Finsbury Park mosque in London. He killed one person and left another 12 injured. He has to serve at least 43 years in jail.

Martin Stokes, 25, also tried to run over citizens with his car when they were outside another London mosque in Cricklewood on September 19 last year. He left three people injured. Barely a week ago, on March 6, he was sentenced to 5 years. Stokes admitted dangerous driving, the BBC reported. He had parked with some friends in a private area and they were bothering him, so they were asked to leave. He responded by ramming the car to the people who were there while he uttered Islamophobic and racist insults against them, witnesses said.

In Quebec (Canada), Alexander Bissonnette was also just recently sentenced for his attack on a mosque, where he shot six people dead in January 2017. The 29-year-old has been sentenced to 40 years without parole.

“The attack in New Zealand is the best example that all extremist ideologies are more similar than you might think,” said OIET director Carlos Igualada, through on his Twitter feed. At the same time, he pointed out that the terrorist groups like Daesh or Al Qaeda will soon use the attacks of this Friday in Christchurch in their own benefit and as an excuse to make propaganda in favor hitting back. They will not remind their followers that they usually kill Muslim people.

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La entrada Attacks against mosques are more usual than you might think: they are committed by anti-Muslim terrorists and also by groups like ISIS se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

She already won the Sakharov prize conceded by the European Parliament in 2016 and is good will Ambassador for the United Nations, among other prizes she has been recognized with around the globe.

She was 21 when ISIS appeared in her little village in the north of Iraq on August 15^th 2014. The terrorists killed her mother and six of her brothers, apart from many other women and men. They kidnapped her and sold her as a sex slave. But she managed to escape and not only tell her story, but the story of thousands of Yazidis suffering under ISIS.

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She found strength out of her tragedy and rose as a strong voice for the Yazidi people, because she said to herself she would be “the last girl”, like her book (Tim Duggan Books) says. The testimony of her captivity and her fight against the terrorists has been heared all around the world. Thanks to her, people got to know that there is exists a minority called “Yazidi”, from an ancient monotheist religion from which only about one million worshippers remain, according to Nadia.

The Nobel Peace Prize comes to complete a happy year for her: she got engaged in August to another Yazidi activist. “Yesterday was a special day for Abid Shamdeen and I. We are very thankful and humbled for all the wishes & support from our family & friends. The struggle of our people brought us together & we will continue this path together. Thank you for your support everyone!”, she announced on Twitter.

She has started a new life in Germany, although she travels a lot so that no one forgets. MEP Beatriz Becerra defended her candidacy for the Sakharov Prize and knows her well. “Normally, someone who has gone through something like what she has, would be devoted to reconstructing her life and try to survive”, she said to Salam Plan. But Nadia is not “normal”. And she does not seek revenge, but “democratic justice”, the European politician highlighted.

“She is a sweet person, charming, apparently fragile physically speaking, but nothing stays on her way. No door keeps closed for her”

— Beatriz Becerra, MEP

“She is a sweet person, charming, apparently fragile physically speaking, but nothing stays on her way. No door keeps closed for her”, she added.

Among her allies, Nadia Murad counts on the United Nations, the European Parliament and voices as strong as the human rights barrister Amal Clooney, who also defends her cause and works for the terrorists to pay at the highest courts for the crimes they have committed.

Besides, Nadia Murad has also created Nadia’s Initiative, an organization “aimed at increasing advocacy for women and minorities and assisting to stabilize and redevelop communities in crisis”. Currently, they are focusing on Sinjar region in Iraq, where she comes from. All this work and prizes… and she seemed fragile at first sight. Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize 2018.

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La entrada Nadia Murad, the Nobel Peace Prize who transformed her tragedy into her strength se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

A boat with 130 people on board is in distress off the Libyan coast. The rescue vessel of the German NGO Sea-Watch arrives to rescue them, but on instructions from the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (IMRCC) and its Libyan counterpart, they have to let the Coast Guard of the North African country take the survivors back. It does not matter that they were in international waters.

About twenty passengers of that vessel died, including children. Those who were taken back by Libyan coast guards, endured detentions “in inhumane conditions”, beatings, extortion, starvation and rape. Two of the survivors were “sold and tortured with electrocution.”

This week 17 of the survivors of that event last November have filed an application against Italy before the European Court of Human Rights, defending this version. They are represented by various legal and medical associations, including the prestigious Yale Law School.

Sea-Watch has long been denouncing similar episodes in international waters and describes them as “illegal and deadly”. They assure these pull-backs are orchestrated not only by Italy, but also by the European Union, which they blame for “facilitating forced returns to Libya”.

“Pull-backs to Libya are illegal and deadly”

— Sea-Watch

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has also criticized Italy, which coordinates rescues in the Central Mediterranean. On March 30, a boat operated by this NGO together with SOS Mediterranée arrived first to rescue some 120 people from a rubber boat “in distress”, according to the alert sent to them from the Italian coordination center. It was also in international waters near Libya and MSF says the center in Rome instructed them to stand by and not engage. They had to wait for the Libyan coast guards to arrive.

The situation of the boat worsened while they were waiting and the NGO negotiated to be able to deliver life jackets and to evaluate the people’s medical conditions. They identified 39 “medical and vulnerable cases” and could evacuate those. Among them there were a newborn, a pregnant woman and families with children.

MSF later said in a statement that due to the “violent reactions in recent months by the Libyan coast guard to the few other remaining humanitarian organizations” in the area, the crew could not “complete the rescue”. They had already other 253 people from other rescue operations on board and the Libyans ordered them to leave.

Another case is the one of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, which had its ‘Open Arms’ rescue ship in Italy recently withheld until a judge settled its release. Two members of the NGO formed by lifeguards still face charges of human trafficking, the same accusation against three Spanish firefighters of the small NGO Proem-Aid that in a brief court hearing in Athens were acquitted last Monday. Proactiva publicly denounced already last summer that the Libyan coast guards made some shots to try to prevent them from rescueing people near there territorial waters.

“European Governments actively enforce policies of deterrence and containment in Libya”

— Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

These are just some examples. The cases of pull-backs reported by humanitarian organizations continue to pile up week after week. MSF, which traditionally avoids making statements of  political nature to keep impartial, has said: “MSF continues to call on European Governments to prioritise the safety of refugees and migrants rather than actively enforcing policies of deterrence and containment in Libya.”

Libya is “hell for refugees”

The UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) has access to 12 “disembarking points” on the western coast of Libya as well as to detention centres. It ensures that the country is a “death trap” and “hell for refugees”. Moreover, the agency explains in its recent report “Desperate journeys” that those who are returned from the sea to Libya end up systematically in detention centres.

Another revealing data collected by UNHCR: the number of dead at sea crossing to Italy has “more than doubled”, with one death per 14 persons attempting to cross the Mediterranean in the first quarter of 2018 compared to one death every 29 persons in the same period last year. At the same time, arrivals by sea to Italy were reduced “dramatically” since July 2017. At the same time, boat rescues or interceptions by Libyan coast guards increased.

“Among those arriving in Italy from Libya there are more people in a state of extreme weakness and thinness, and in general with poor health”

— UNHCR

“In addition, in recent months there has been a worrying health deterioration of those arriving in Italy from Libya, with more people arriving in a state of extreme weakness and thinness, and in general with poor health,” UNHCR reported in April.

The changing factor between the beginning of 2017 and now is the agreement that Italy signed in February last year with the only government in Libya internationally recognized. Rome provides them with the necessary means and training to monitor the international waters near the North African country. It is also true that the UNHCR itself recognizes that thanks to Rome and that Libyan government (one of three who are fighting for power in the failed state) they have been able to evacuate several hundred refugees safely. But let’s go step by step.

The European Commission will not take action against Italy

The European Commission (EC) assures that making forced returns to Libya is illegal, as a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights made clear in 2012. However, in practice it moves between turning a blind eye and denying that these actions are taking place in international waters, with no intention of investigating the repeated claims of humanitarian organizations.

The Commission’s position was confirmed in the responses of its spokesperson, Natasha Bertaud, during a press conference on Tuesday. At the insistence of several journalists about the passivity of the Commission, she said: “European boats, including Italian boats, are acting in full respect of the principle of non-refoulement.” There is, therefore, no hint of sanction or warning to Italy, as it is happening respectively with Poland and Hungary in other matters.

“European boats, including Italian boats, are acting in full respect of the principle of ‘non-refoulement'”

— Natasha Bertaud, European Commission

Bertaud argued that they cannot interfere in an issue that, according to her, depends on regulations outside the European one. But article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union states that measures can be taken against a Member State when it does not respect the fundamental values ​​of the Union (article 2). Among them are “respect for human dignity”, “respect for human rights” and “a society in which [among other maxims] solidarity prevails”.

The spokeswoman for the Commission did describe as “regrettable” another incident that confronted Italy and the United Kingdom earlier this week. 105 people, including children, had been rescued at sea by another Proactiva ship. They had to wait more than 24 hours before they could be transferred to one operated by MSF, which was right next to it. The reason? Italy assured them that they were not under their jurisdiction, but under the British.

Italy’s agreement with a failed state

That returns of migrants to Libya are currently taking place, is a fact, according to Wolfgang Pusztai, someone who knows the situation on the ground first hand and one of the security advisors on Libyan issues to the EU and Italy. “There are currently a large number of migrants in the SAR (search and rescue) region of ​​Libya who are caught with the support of the Italian Maritime Coordination Centre in Rome and the Italian Navy – through information on the location of the boats- and transported back to Libya,” he confirmed to Salam Plan.

Whether these actions are legal or not depends, according to him, on the assessment of the situation of the refugees in Libya. We already know what UNHCR thinks, and it is an agency the European Commission works with in that country. Pusztai would not send back the migrants found at sea.

The agreement signed by the Executive of Matteo Renzi with the Libyan Government of National Accord last year has led to collaboration in the surveillance and rescue or interception of boats with migrants outside the Libyan territorial waters, but in an area that theoretically would correspond to the North African country. The Mediterranean is divided into search and rescue zones (SAR) and Italy has for years been responsible for the area that now Rome and Brussels are trying to transfer to Tripoli.

“There are currently a large number of migrants in the search and rescue region of ​​Libya who are ‘caught’ with the support of the Italian Maritime Coordination Centre in Rome  and transported back to Libya”

— Wolfgang Pusztai, security adviser to the EU and Italy

For that to be possible, there is a project of a Libyan Centre for Maritime Coordination (LMRRC), such as the one in Rome coordinating rescues in the central Mediterranean. It is an initiative of the Italian Coast Guard funded by the European Commission, “with the aim of conducting a feasibility study in order to establish a Libyan MRCC and to support the Libyan authorities in identifying and declaring their Search and Rescue Region”.

That is what they told the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This centre in Libya is essential to be able to declare a SAR zone, according to international maritime laws. Although an IMO representative has explained to Salam Plan that it is the countries -and not this organization- who recognize or not the legitimacy of a SAR area.

The complexity of the whole situation is due to the fact that Libya is a failed state. The country has been plunged into chaos since the fall of dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011. The three parallel governments of the country are fighting over territorial power not only with each other, but also with militias and terrorists like Daesh/ ISIS. The authority recognized by Western countries is the already mentioned Government of National Accord, which only controls the city of Tripoli, and not even completely, Pusztai says.

On the other hand, Italy does not act solely by virtue of the agreement with that government and with a half-implemented Libyan SAR area, but as part of the so-called ‘Operation Sophia‘. That military operation of the EU before the Libyan coasts to prevent irregular immigration, human trafficking while at the same time rescuing those boats in distress, as required by maritime law. The same that also gives training to the Libyan coast guard and provides them with means to operate.

A 2017 report by the Oxford Analytica consultancy for the European Council recognizes that “the rescue/interception of migrants in the Libyan SAR zone raises questions about the state responsible for the rescue operation and the port of disembarkation, which should be a ‘place of safety’”. At the same time, it reminds that the SAR Convention does not include the obligation to allow disembarkation in a particular port; neither does it oblige a state to accept the rescued people.

The pull-backs from international waters that denounced by humanitarian organizations occur in the area designated theoretically to Libya. Rome remains the legal authority to which their ships have to oblige, but Italy coordinates with them and with the Libyan coast guards.

The dangers of Libyan chaos

The annual report of Amnesty International 2017/18 states that in Libya all parties to the conflict carry out “indiscriminate attacks”, “serious violations” of international law and human rights. Torture and other ill-treatments are “widespread” practices in prisons. “Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers were subjected to widespread and systematic serious human rights violations and abuses at the hands of state officials, smugglers and armed groups,” the study indicates.

There are also testimonies of migrants who claim to have been sold as slaves in Libya -a circumstance confirmed by Pusztai, the security expert- although he denies that it is happening on a large scale.

“Many of those who arrive to Italy by sea are persons fleeing violence and persecution, and people who had experienced trafficking, torture, and other forms of abuse in Libya”

— UNHCR

More than 662,000 migrants in Libyan territory are exposed to these dangers. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), deployed in the country, has counted among them 5,000 migrants currently detained, including children.

In addition, about 51,500 refugees and asylum seekers are registered at UNHCR. This is without counting the displaced Libyans themselves in their country, which are 184,000. This does not mean that other migrants in Libya cannot qualify for asylum in Europe. In fact, UNHCR explains in its recent report that among “those arriving to Italy by sea from Libya, many were seeking international protection including persons fleeing violence and persecution, and people who had experienced trafficking, torture, and other forms of abuse in Libya.”

“The current reception system, despite recent improvements, remains unacceptable as migrants remain in detention after being returned”

— International Organization for Migration (IOM)

This week, IOM positively assessed the work of the coast guards of Tripoli, who have intercepted one out of every three boats in recent months. But at the same time, it warned: “The current reception system, despite recent improvements, remains unacceptable as migrants remain in detention after being returned.”

Pusztai, the adviser to Rome and Brussels earlier mentioned, shows his concern for the “harassment” of the Libyan coast guards against the NGOs “to try to push them out” and “to be the only ones who can rescue”. Why are they so keen to pick up the people drowning in international waters (albeit within their theoretical area of ​​responsibility)? “That certainly also has to do with the Italians and the Europeans exercising the corresponding pressure. There is no doubt about that,” he says. “The Government of National Accord is completely dependent on international support.”

The responsibility of the EU

The document mentioned by leaders of the EU Member States recalls that “a safe place” to land shipwrecked people in accordance with the Geneva Convention is “a place on dry land where the lives and freedoms of those alleging a well- founded fear of persecution, torture, and ill-treatment would not be threatened.” Still, each government and European body interprets it differently.

For the socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar the answer to whether Libya is a safe country to which migrants or asylum seekers should be sent back, is: “Flatly, no.” On Italy, this member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament emphasizes that “it has a history of convictions (and it is) under scrutiny (of the EP), but that does not prevent us from recognizing that it has invested its own resources to save lives at sea”.

Is Libya a safe country to which migrants or asylum seekers should be sent back? “Flatly, no. It’s a ‘non-state’ in which, unfortunately, Italy has been forced to look for local partners”

— Juan Fernando López Aguilar, MEP

He considers that the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office is an independent body that will be able to judge the specific cases of alleged automatic returns, but he does not believe that Italy’s overall work in the central Mediterranean is comparable to the hot returns produced in places like Spanish Ceuta and Melilla, condemned by the Strasbourg Court of Justice.

“Libya was a failed state, now it is a ‘non-state’ (…) in which, unfortunately, Italy has been forced to look for (local) partners to try to alleviate the tremendous pressure that it has been suffering alone in recent years,” says the socialist MEP. He adds a crucial remark to assess the security or not of Libya: among those interlocutors with whome Rome “has reached some kind of understanding” there are also not only militias, but human trafficking networks.

>>> You may also want to read: The most surprising facts about the refugee crisis <<<

In spite of everything, a European high official familiar with the terrain that asks for anonymity assures Salam Plan: “Libya does not seem dangerous to me (…). It depends a lot on the area. Regarding immigrants, the south controlled by Tebus and Touaregs is much more dangerous than the areas of departure at the coast. Western Libya, near Tunis, is relatively quiet.”

Nevertheless, he recognizes that in Libya “immigrants won’t be able to be protected the same way as in Europe, especially if they are refugees”. Asked about “the pull-back of migrants found adrift in the Mediterranean and returned to Libya by order of the center of Rome”, this person recognizes that “that is illegal according to a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).”

The case that ruling refered to was also against Italy, which in May 2009 intercepted a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean with 834 people on board and returned them to Libya. At that time, Gaddafi still ruled the country, but the work document of the European Council does not make distinctions with the current moment: “As stated by the ECtHR, (…) Libya cannot be considered a ‘place of safety’ because of the well-documented inadequacy of its response to flows of migrants and asylum seekers.”

The European Commission therefore maintains that hot returns are illegal, but it denies that they are occurring. On the other hand, the Commission explains to this website that they work with UNHCR and IOM “to improve the conditions of people who are trapped in Libya.” They also collaborate to evacuate migrants there legally, either by returning them to their countries of origin or by resettling them.

In the last three months, UNHCR has been able to safely evacuate more than 1,000 asylum seekers and refugees to Italy and Niger. But the Agency for Refugees continues to struggle to have access to all migrants and asylum seekers in order to evaluate their request.

“Everything indicates that (pull-backs) will keep on rising. It is happening more and more often”

— Laura Lanuza, spokesperson for the NGO Proactiva Open Arms

Pusztai acknowledges that the European Commission “has been much stricter with Hungary and Poland” than with Italy. He assures that precisely because of the situation of insecurity in Libya, eventual investigations on the ground would be “very difficult” to conduct. Even so, this expert believes that the reports of UNHCR and IOM are reliable. “Everything here comes back to the question of what is still ‘acceptable’. The answer of the Italians is obvious”, he resolves.

It cannot be forgotten that the EU has also formed and provided means to the Libyan coast guards and is financing the project of a possible maritime control centre in Libya.

Possible short-term solutions

“Many of us have been complaining for a long time against hypocrisy, that the EU continue to return so-called irregular migrants – even if they are asylum seekers – without giving an option for regulation at origin,” MEP López Aguilar regrets. He advocates for “humanitarian visas“, which would give a limited entry permit only to be able to raise the asylum or subsidiary protection request once in the EU, if they cannot present it in their countries of origin.

Pusztai proposes another possible transitory solution: to construct migrant and refugee camps on uninhabited or sparsely inhabited islets of the Mediterranean where these people can make their applications. The European authorities could study each case before deciding whether they are entitled to asylum here or whether they are economic migrants and should be sent back to their place of origin.

“I think it is urgent to save these people and evaluate them before bringing them to Europe. Everything else would not be really responsible,” explains this expert. He does not say it solely because of the humanitarian concerns, but also because in his opinion both the Operation Sophia ships and those of the NGOs exert a “suction effect”.

He mentions another aspect to be taken into account: Daesh is recruiting sub-Saharan Africans who have already attacked in Tripoli. For this reason he estimates that they could leak among the migrants on the boats. It is worth remembering here that the vast majority of the so-called ‘jihadist’ attacks on European soil have been carried out by people born or raised here, such as the attacks in Paris or Catalonia. While it is true that in some cases, like the young man who attacked the passengers of a Bavarian train with an ax, he was a radicalized refugee.

>>> You may also want to read: The true meaning of ‘jihad’ and how ISIS fails to accomplish it step by step <<<

Humanitarian organizations insist that it is essential to establish legal and safe passage for asylum seekers. But while a solution to the so-called “migratory flow” is found in the central Mediterranean, Italy is already applying its agreement with Libya without much European scrutiny.

So far this year, more than 9,500 migrants or asylum seekers have arrived in Italy across the Mediterranean, according to IOM. So far, at least 385 people have died in that journey. Meanwhile, almost 6,000 migrants have been returned to Libya.

“Everything indicates that (pull-backs) will keep on rising. It is happening more and more often,” says Laura Lanuza, spokesperson for the NGO Proactiva Open Arms. And she warns: when the Libyan coast guards take the people back they do not rescue them, they “capture” them.

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Eight countries coordinated by Europol have simultaneously disabled the main propaganda media of Daesh. The servers that the terrorists had in the Netherlands, Canada and the United States have been seized. In Bulgaria, Romania and France, police have also seized digital evidence. The United Kingdom was acted against top-level webdomains used by the self-described ‘Islamic State’ or ISIS.

“Targeting major IS-branded media outlets like Amaq, but also al-Bayan radio, Halumu and Nashir news, IS’s capability to broadcast and publicise terrorist material has been compromised”, Europol assures in a press release.

“With this ground-breaking operation we have punched a big hole in the capability of IS to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe,” Rob Wainwright, executive director of Europol, said. “Daesh is no longer just losing territory on the ground – but also online,” said Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Internal Affairs and Citizenship.

“With this ground-breaking operation we have punched a big hole in the capability of IS to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe”

Amaq is the way the terrorist group usually claims attacks, although until July 2017 it did not recognize the ‘news’ agency as its own. Europol explains that Amaq had its own software since 2015 and “developed highly resilient online infrastructure hosting”. Since December 2017, all of Daesh’s propaganda is available in at least nine languages, as well as a wide range of digital services, such as mailed propaganda.

A Spanish track was key

Spain has not been directly involved in this international operation, which took place between April 25 and 26 and has been announced this Friday. But it was the Guardia Civil, the military-police force in Spain, which came up with the clue that has finally led to the present blow to the propaganda machinery of Daesh, according to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.

It happened mid-2016, when the Guardia Civil noticed that many people investigated in different operations consumed propaganda from several media platforms of Daesh, such as Amaq or Al Bayan. Later, in 2017, a man arrested in Madrid’s region on charges of radicalizing and spreading propaganda of the terrorist group, “provided the necessary information to identify the core of the (propaganda) infrastructure on the Internet”, explained the Ministry in a press release.

That was the origin of the so-called ‘Tahmil Operation’ of the Guardia Civil, which found its peak in the intervention in Panama of the servers that supported the propaganda online infrastructure of Daesh.

“The analysis of the enormous information contained in the servers intervened in Panama has allowed to help numerous foreign police services to tighten the net around the administrators, who belong to the central structure of Daesh”, says the press release.

On the other hand, although the Spanish Ministry assures that it has also made able to “identify thousands of users located in 133 countries, who consumed this type of propaganda”, Europol does not take it for granted. The European agency explains that “law enforcement agencies involved expect that the data retrieved as a result of the takedown will help to identify the administrators behind IS media outlets and potentially radicalised individuals on European soil and beyond.”

The operation has been led by the Belgian Prosecutor’s Office with the support of Eurojust.

La entrada Takedown of Daesh propaganda machine compromises its main mouthpiece se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Stéphane Albertini (39), Nick Alexander (36), Jean-Jacques Amiot (68), Anne Laure Arruebo (36), Thomas Ayad (32), Alva Berglund (25), Guillaume B. Decherf (43), René Bichon (62), Chloé Boissinot (25), Emmanuel Bonnet (47), Maxime Bouffard (26), Quentin Boulenger (29), Ludovic Boumbas (40), Élodie Breuil (23), Ciprian Calciu (32), Claire Camax (35), Nicolas Catinat (37), Baptiste Chevreau (24), Nicolas Classeau (43), Manuel Colaco Dias (63), Anne Cornet (29), Precilia Correia (35), Cécile Coudon Peccadeau de l’Isle (37), Marie-Aimée Dalloz (34), Nicolas Degenhardt (37), Elsa Delplace San Martin (35), Alban Denuit (32), Vincent Detoc (38), Asta Diakité, Romain Didier (32), Lucie Dietrich (37), Elif Dogan (26), Fabrice Dubois (46), Romain Dunay (28), Thomas Duperron (30), Justine Dupont (34), Mathias Dymarski (22), Salah Emad El-Gemaly (28), Germain Ferey (36), Romain Feuillade (31), Grégory Fosse (28), Christophe Foultier (39), Julien Galisson (32), Suzon Garrigues (21), Juan Alberto Gonzalez Garrido (29), Mayeul Gaubert (30), Véronique Geoffroy de Bourgies (54), Cédric Ginestou (27), Michelli Gil Jaimez (27), Matthieu Giroud (39), Cédric Gomet (30), Nohemi Gonzalez (23), Stéphane Grégoire (46), Pierre-Yves Guyomard (43), Stéphane Hache (52),  Thierry Hardouin (36), Olivier Hauducœur (44), Frédéric Henninot (45), Pierre-Antoine Henry (36), Raphael Hilz (28), Mathieu Hoche (37), Djamila Houd (41), Amine Ibnolmobarak (29), Pierre Innocenti (40), Nathalie Jardin (31), Marion Jouanneau (24), Milko Jozic (47), Jean-Jacques Kirchheim (44), Hyacinthe Koma (36), Nathalie Lauraine (39), Marie Lausch (23), Guillaume Le Dramp (33), Renaud Le Guen (29), Gilles Leclerc (32), Christophe Lellouche (33), Cécile Martin (33), Antoine Mary (34), Cédric Mauduit (41), Charlotte Meaud (30), Émilie Meaud (30), Isabelle Merlin (44), Fanny Minot (29), Yannick Minvielle (39), Cécile Misse (32), Lamia Mondeguer (30), Marie Mosser (24), Justine Moulin (23), Quentin Mourier (29), Victor Muñoz (25), Christophe Mutez (40), Hélène Muyal (35), Romain Naufle (31), Bertrand Navarret (37), Christopher Neuet-Shalter (39), Lola Ouzounian (17), David Perchirin (45), Aurélie de Peretti (33), Manu Perez (40), Anna Petard Lieffrig (24), Marion Petard Lieffrig (30), Franck Pitiot (33), Lacramioara Pop (29), Caroline Prenat (24), François-Xavier Prévost (29), Sébastien Proisy (38), Armelle Pumir Anticevic (46), Richard Rammant (53), Valentin Ribet (26), Matthieu de Rorthais (32), Estelle Rouat (25), Thibault Rousse Lacordaire (36), Raphaël Ruiz (37), Halima Saadi (37), Houda Saadi (35), Madeleine Sadin (30), Kheireddine Sahbi (29), Lola Salines (28), Patricia San Martin (61), Hugo Sarrade (23), Djalal Eddin Sebaa (30), Maud Serrault (37), Sven Silva Perugini (29), Valeria Solesin (28), Fabian Stech (51), Claire Tapprest (23), Ariane Theiller (24), Éric Thomé (39), Olivier Vernadal (44), Stella Verry (36), Luis Felipe Zschoche Valle (35).

Sources: Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Média Part, LaGuitare.com

La entrada In memoriam: Paris, 13 November se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

The reason for so much interest in this man is not for being an appreciated British digital artist and a Bafta award winner, but rather for his commitment to fight Islamophobia and racism after losing his brother Martyn (29) at the Manchester bombing last May. He has publicly denounced that he receives online threats from far right people, because he does not believe that terrorism is a problem related to Islam nor immigration.

Only a few days after that attack that killed 22 people, The Guardian published an interview with Dan Hett in which he explained not only his frustration about what happened, but also about the anti-immigration defenders taking advantage of the the massacre. The author of that attack on May 22, Salman Abedi, was the son of immigrants born in the United Kingdom and a resident of the same area as the Hett family.

“As a young half-Turkish Mancunian, I’m not worlds away from this guy [Abedi]. The idea that somebody would say, ‘Oh, this is an immigration problem’ frustrates me. How is this an immigration problem? A UK-born terrorist took out, among many other people, my UK-born Turkish brother … In an alternate timeline, the roles could have been reversed,” Dan Hett said at the time. “In many ways we are completely alike,” he assured, including himself in this parallelism, in another interview with Manchester Evening News.

“A UK-born terrorist took out, among many other people, my UK-born Turkish brother … In an alternate timeline, the roles could have been reversed”

He regrets -as he told the local newspaper- that there is a “pattern” by which some people take advantage of terrorist attacks to promote an anti-immigrant and Islamophobic debate. In his opinion, the real danger lies in the rethoric that comes after the attacks and alerts: adopting a hate speech against other cultures only contributes precisely to what the ISIS (Daesh) seeks. “You are part of their plan,” if you do so, he warned. He has chosen to be just the opposite and to fight actively and peacefully against the terrorists’ goals. That’s why he does not stay silent.

Martyn Hett was 29 years old when he died in the attack on the Ariana Grande concert. Source: Twitter

Dan has also spoken out against a new book by Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right organization English Defence League (EDL) in Manchester, who has 381,000 followers on Twitter and which has earned Dan the latest wave of insults on the Internet. Robinson presented it last Friday, November 3, in an event with about thousand attendees, according to British media.

“The most dangerous book in Britain. Get a copy before they ban it,” Robinson boasts when he publicizes it. “Mohammed’s Koran: why Muslims kill for Islam” is how he has called his interpretation of jihad, equating those who profess Islam with terrorists.

>> HAVE A LOOK AT “The true meaning of ‘jihad’ and how ISIS fails to accomplish it step by step” <<

Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley) left the EDL in 2013 stating that he would only fight against the Islamist radicalization. He did it with the support of the Quilliam Foundation, known for its work against extremism, as The Telegraph recently recalled. But in 2016 he founded the British version of the German xenophobic movement Pegida. In addition, the Quilliam Foundation itself claimed that it had attacked its premises and that Robinson seemed to have experienced a setback in leaving his extremism behind.

Dan’s activism has cost him numerous attacks through Twitter, either openly or by direct messages (in private), and also through email. He shared some of the last insults he received, although he refrained from publishing the ones he considered “too offensive”.

Among the messages he has received, several include insults such as “stupid” or “dummy”. Also one he -who is also a victim of terrorism himself due to his loss- highlights: “Islam killed your brother. I bet hes [SIC] out there proud of you,”challenged one Twitter user. “Love Manchester. Hate racism,” he has tweeted these days in response to these types of attacks. And he also recalled: “I’m not afraid to raise my voice.”

Love Manchester. Hate racism (…). I’m not afraid to raise my voice

That is precisely the mission he has engaged in after losing his brother. “I want to talk about the responsibility of normal people to raise their voices and not ignore what is happening,” he explained in the already mentioned interview with the Manchester newspaper. Now, far from being daunted by the attacks, this father of two seems to gain more strength at his 32 years for his upcoming commitments: he will conduct a schools tour to talk about “the true effects of extremism” and will participate as a speaker at the next TEDX conference to be held in Manchester next February.

This Monday, Dan Hett, made clear that the attacks against him on Twitter will even be useful in his work against extremism: “The troll hits ‘send’, but never imagined that their abusive messages would add to my discussion material in schools almost instantaneously.”

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Of the nearly 30,000 people who left their country -the so-called ‘foreign fighters’, at least 5,600 citizens or residents of 33 countries have returned home; 1,700 of them, to Europe. These are data of the new report Beyond the Caliphate; Foreign fighters and the threat of returnees published by the The Soufan Center, an organization devoted to the analysis of global security and emerging threats based in New York.

Most of the foreign fighters of ISIS or Daesh are originally from the former Soviet republics (more than 8,700), followed by people from the Middle East (more than 7,000) and in the third place, from Western Europe (more than 5,700). At present there are at least 15 European countries – including the Balkans – that have recorded the return of these suspected terrorists to their countries.

Although the United Kingdom is the third European state in number of foreign fighters, it is the one that more returnees has registered: 425, according to data of February of 2017. That is 25% of a total of 1,700.

On the other hand, France is the European country which produced more foreign fighters: it estimates that 1,900 citizens or residents in their country travelled to Iraq and Syria to join Daesh on the ground of their supposed caliphate; at least 271 of them have returned, according to data from last August. Germany is the second country most affected by this phenomenon, with approximately 915 foreign fighters and a large number of returnees in Europe: approximately 300, according to March figures.

It is important to note that not all those who are counted as foreign fighters managed to arrive at their destination, as on many occasions the Turkish, Moroccan or other authorities prevented them from doing so thanks to the cooperation with their countries of origin.

France is the European country that has frustrated more attempts of this emigration: more than 2,600. Behind it are Belgium (over 1,500), UK (about 1,200) and Germany (over 650).

The returnees pose a “huge challenge” for security and law enforcement but most of the attacks claimed by Daesh both on European soil and in the rest of the world were not carried out by returnees

Richard Barrett, author of the report and former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, says that returnees pose a “huge challenge for security and law enforcement entities”. But at the same time he acknowledges that the facts show that in most of the attacks claimed by Daesh both on European soil and in the rest of the world were not carried out by returnees, the same argument Raffaello Pantucci, counterterrorism expert of RUSI think tank, recently pointed out on Salam Plan.

“They generally appear to have had a stronger desire to join something new rather than destroy something old. As a result, returnees have, so far, proved a more manageable problem than initially anticipated,” Barrett says. And reminds that last September, the French authorities spoke of a decrease in the ratio of returnees.

Barrett, who also was UN coordinator of its al-Qaida/Taliban monitoring team from 2004 to 2013, points out as well that among those who return there are also repentant or disenchanted people, because they did not find what they were looking for when they followed the promise of the alleged caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“Returnees have, so far, proved a more manageable problem than initially anticipated (but) states have not found a way to address the problem of returnees. Most are imprisoned, or disappear from view”

Nevertheless, Barret warns that the defeats on the ground and loss of terrain- especially now, following the recent fall of Raqqa, the ‘capital’ of the terrorists – will lead its leaders to put more emphasis on supporting terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq, also profiting from the returnees. There are also women and children among them, by the way.

In his report, the analyst warns: “States have not found a way to address the problem of returnees. Most are imprisoned, or disappear from view. There will be a need for more research and information sharing to develop effective strategies to assess and address the threat.”

La entrada 1,700 ISIS members have returned to their home in Europe after migrating to the ‘caliphate’ se publicó primero en Salam Plan.