Like Damocles’ Sword Hanging over our Heads

Posted by AsiaViews | Nov 13, 2017 | 0 |

The Manila Times

Nov 5, 2017

ASEAN member states are preparing to tackle during a summit next week a most urgent security risk that in Europe is already causing a serious ethical dilemma for its governments.

Thousands of surviving jihadists who have fought and lost the war in Iraq and Syria, along with their families, have started going back home, and are now regarded as security threats to their countries. Authorities are worried that from among them would come rabid crusaders who could carry out lone-wolf attacks, if not regroup and launch new attempts to set up caliphates elsewhere to prove their jihadist cause is alive.

Governments are in a quandary over what to do with them. The fear of taking back extremists is understandable as that could bring imminent danger right to their doorstep. Yet they could not simply turn their backs on their nationals and the fate of their children and widows, especially those who profess to have had a change of heart .

The issues on both sides of the policy dilemma with which governments are grappling truly present strong arguments that could tear apart one’s moral disposition.

A US-based NGO, The Soufan Center, has reported that about a third of the 5,000 EU jihadists who fought in Iraq and Syria have returned home. Some are expected to have remained committed to violent jihad and will soon find a way to continue the fight, it said.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been handling the problem on a case-by-case basis. Britain’s goal is to give the returning extremists due process in court to either throw them in jail or put them under surveillance to keep the country safe. But some authorities, according to an Agence France-Presse report, think they are legitimate targets and the only way to neutralize them is to kill them. In Germany, jihadists’ children indoctrinated in the war zones are considered dangerous.

The Philippines has just quelled the most intense Muslim separatist rebellion in recent history with the liberation of Marawi from the siege launched five months ago by the IS-linked Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups.

The government has not made any statement on how it would handle the threat brought back home by the Filipino extremist fighters who may have survived the war in Mosul and Raqqa.

But lest it be too late again, Philippine government security forces must not let their guard down in monitoring any remaining militant movements around Marawi and the whole island of Mindanao even as the country gets busy with the current preparations for the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila next week.

Nothing could be smarter for the Philippines as the incumbent head of the ASEAN bloc than to ensure 100 percent security for the delegates that include 21 world leaders who are expected to arrive in Manila for the summit, as well as the rest of the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands while the talks are underway.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano recognized the terror attacks in New York and elsewhere abroad as an indication that the threat remains real and alive.

Rightly so, as Defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong voiced concern over the possibility of lone-wolf attacks in the country after Marawi, and as Australia alerted its nationals about the risk of traveling to Manila.

Cayetano made a timely call for stronger international efforts against terrorism as he announced it would be among the issues discussed in the ASEAN summit and related meetings between November 10 and 14.

Still, the region’s leaders and all ASEAN allies must deal with the humanitarian and tactical issue of totally crushing the seeds of terrorist rebellion, while discerning the innocence of the young souls trapped in their parents’ war and saving them from being raised as a new generation of jihadists.

Finding the wisdom to craft that policy on what to do with the returning terrorist remnants and their families is of utmost importance for the ASEAN leaders to seek during this summit. Otherwise, an unclear policy could hang like Damocles’ sword over our heads ready to fall on us at our most unguarded moment.

(http://www.manilatimes.net/like-damocles-sword-hanging-heads/360762/)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Like Damocles’ Sword Hanging over our Heads