Kosovo among rare countries that have returned those who joined the war in Syria

The return of 110 Kosovars from war centres in Syria in April last year continues to be a challenge for Kosovo.

The country is working little for identifying radicalised persons, even though they have not yet been able to join war sites. So said Wednesday in publication of the “report. The removal of Kosovo's response to returnees from war zones in Syria and Iraq”, under the “Analysing of the new integration process for foreign fighters returned to the community”, from the Kosovo Centre for Security Studies”.

Teuta Avdimitaj from the QKSS said that since 2012, over 400 people from Kosovo have been attached to Syria and Iraq, where many children have even been born in these areas.

Skender Perteshi researcher in the QKSS said that compared to 2013, which has been fighting radicalism, it is recently the reintegration of these people, who are becoming part of the wars in Syria and Iraq.

Our “Report shows that Kosovo is one of the rare countries that has made the decision to return citizens, unlike some European Union countries, where only children return. This also brings a huge burden. Kosovo has taken steps to rehabilitate them, but access has been different”, he said.

Pertesh said restoring 110 citizens to Kosovo last year was a challenge for Kosovo institutions.

There was no coherent approach between institutions. Most of the punishments taken for warriors have been brief. There have been no monitoring measures when he leaves prison. When they were out in the community there were no concrete measures to treat them”, Perteshi added.

Despite major investments, he said there is a need for specific treatment, in particular for the Kosovo Correcting Service.

According to Pertesh, very few are working on identifying radicalised persons and belonging to this ideology, which has not actually participated in such wars.