Foreign Fighters: Will Revoking Citizenship Mitigate the Threat?

As the Islamic State’s “caliphate” has collapsed, flushing out fighters and their families, Western governments are having to contend with the fates of radicalized nationals who may wish to return. Recent high-profile cases of “ISIS widows” have thrown the issue into sharp relief.

Source: AAP

Britain’s Shamima Begum and the United States’ Hoda Muthana, teenagers who left their countries to join the Islamic State, were denied their wish to return with their newborn children: the United Kingdom stripped Begum of her citizenship, leaving her effectively stateless, while the United States concluded that Muthana was not a citizen based on a technicality. Though the question of so-called foreign fighters has troubled Western countries for some time, the issue of family members and dependents—including young children born abroad who may have uncertain citizenship status—has added further complexity.

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